LEGALIZING HEMP BACK IN SPOTLIGHT

A governor’s task force has studied it. University professors have
researched it. Legislators have debated it. A movie star has touted it.

But after nearly a decade of talk, Kentucky has yet to legalize the
cultivation of hemp – a plant virtually identical to marijuana, but which
is far less potent than its famous cousin.

Advocates of hemp say the crop could be the salvation of the small Kentucky
farmer. But it appears no closer to legalization now than in 1991, when
marijuana advocate Gatewood Galbraith campaigned unsuccessfully for
governor in a Mercides-Bens he dubbed his “hempmobile.”

Eyes nonetheless are now trained on the Kentucky Supreme Court, which heard
arguments yesterday in the case of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs, Woodrow
Harrelson.

Harrelson is better known as Woody, famed for his acting roles in the TV
show “Cheers” and movies like “The People vs. Larry Flynt.” Harrleson
planted four hemp seeds in full view of the Lee County sheriff three years
ago so he could take to court his argument that a law banning marijuana is
unconstitutional because it also bans hemp, making it too broad and
arbitrary. “We hope the Supreme Court hears the arguments on their merits,”
said Joe Hickey, the executive director of the Kentucky Hemp Growers
Cooperative Association. “They’re not locking farmers up in Canada for
growing industrial hemp. Why should they lock up farmers in the United
States?”

Kentucky was once one of the nation’s leading producers of hemp – which was
used to make rope and sails, among other things – until it was outlawed
nationally in the 1930’s. Despite hemp’s history in Kentucky, the drive to
legalize it has gained ground faster elsewhere. Canada legalized the
growing of hemp last year, and this year Hawaii, Minnesota and North Dakota
allowed some experimental crops.

But in Kentucky the legalization effort has failed in the face of
opposition from law enforcement and from research that casts doubt on its
economic benefits for farmers.

Lt. Kevin Payne, a spokesman for the Kentucky State Police, said that
agency opposes legalizing hemp because it would make things easier for
marijuana traffickers. He rejected the arguments of hemp advocates who say
that hemp is not a drug and the two crops can easily be distinguished.

“I think they’re trying to pull the wool over somebody’s eyes when they
make those arguments,” Payne said.

Hemp and marijuana are the same plant species. But they are grown
differently, and hemp yields a larger stalk and has lower quantities of
THC, the substance that gives smokers their high.

Hemp advocates call it “industrial hemp” to emphasize its commercial uses
and to distinguish it from marijuana, which many hemp supporters say they
don’t want legalized.

The Kentucky Hemp Museum and Library, whose financial backers include
Harrelson and media mogul Ted Turner, commissioned a study by three UK
researchers that said legalizing hemp could generate 771 jobs in Kentucky
and $17 million in additional earnings.

Advocates also argue that because it is grown differently from marijuana.
There are simple field tests that would allow police to permit farmers to
grow hemp while still eradicating marijuana. The say Canada and Europe
haven’t seen a sharp rise in marijuana use because hemp is legal in those
places.

“Why is our law enforcement the only law enforcement in the world that
doesn’t get it?” Hickey asked.

Whoever is right, the issue has been kicked around more in Kentucky than in
many other places. In the mid-1990’s, then Gov. Brereton Jones formed a
task force to study legalizing hemp, although it quickly disbanded after
issuing a disputed report that said the crop didn’t have much economic
potential.

That was the last time the General Assembly gave any consideration to
seriously studying the issue, said Rep. Jack Coleman, D-Burgin, a member of
the House Agriculture Committee. He said at the time most people in
agriculture “pretty much wrote it off.”

“I don’t think it’s been taken seriously since,” Coleman said.

Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville, a member of the Senate Agriculture
Committee, said he has never been lobbied about the issue.

“I think it’s one of those issues that’s good for a sound bite, but there’s
not much substance behind it,” Shaughnessy said. “I don’t think the people
that are advocating it because if they were, then they would be talking to
legislators, and they’re not.”

But that doesn’t mean the legislature won’t consider the issue.

Sen. David Boswell, D-Owensboro, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture
Committee, said he is firmly opposed to marijuana, but believes the General
Assembly should consider studying industrial hemp further.

“Things have a tendency to come of age,” he said. “Maybe this has.”

But Boswell, who said he doesn’t know if he would support legalizing hemp,
said his committee has no plans to discuss the issue and he doesn’t know of
anyone who will introduce a bill in the session starting in January.

Indiana also hasn’t seen any serious move to legalize hemp, said Joe
Pearson, the assistant commissioner of agriculture. Pearson said that
although some people have expressed interest in growing hemp, he doesn’t
think the state will do anything unless it is first legalized by the
federal government.

Arguments that it could be an effective alternative to lucrative tobacco
don’t fully hold up, at present. A study on behalf of the Kentucky Long-
Term Policy Research Council found that while tobacco can produce earnings
of up to $1,000 per acre, the most profitable form of hemp, as seed, would
return at most $600 an acre. Other forms would bring as little as $200 per
acre. And it said those returns would fall if competition increased.

On of those competitors could be Hawaii, which, like Kentucky, has been a
leading state in the illegal cultivation of marijuana.

Rep. Cynthia Thielen, a Republican in the Hawaiian House of
Representatives, said she co-sponsored a bill that allows the state to grow
an experimental hemp crop. She said officials are still waiting for a
permit from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which hasn’t
officially said whether it will allow it, although she expects approval.

Thielen, the assistant minority leader, said she took an interest in the
issue after her son, Peter Thielen, who sells Hawaiian shirts made of hemp
cloth from China, suggested that she look at hemp as an alternative to
sugar, which is dying out as a viable cash crop. Her first reaction, she
said, was “Oh no, that’s a drug.”

But she said she has educated herself by traveling to France, England and
other countries where hemp growing is legal and found it doesn’t promote
drug use. “What I can’t understand is why Kentucky isn’t moving ahead,” she
said.

[sidebar]

ALL ABOUT HEMP

WHAT IS HEMP? Hemp is a tall annual plant that provides fibers for making
rope and cloth. It is raised in Asia, where it originated, and in Europe
and North America. Marijuana is made from the dried leaves and flowering
tops of the cannabis plant. But industrial hemp strains do not produce
enough THC, a psychoactive chemical, to produce a high in users.

HISTORY: Hemp, considered the oldest cultivated fiber plant, was growing in
Kentucky by 1775; it was the state’s largest cash crop until 1920. Between
1914 and 1933, 33 states prohibited hemp use except for medicinal and
industrial purposes. In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which
made hemp production nearly impossible. Some farmers grew hemp during World
War II under federal license.

PRODUCERS: Growing industrial-strain hemp is allowed in China, France,
Russia, Germany, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Canada and
Romania.

PROHIBITION: Hemp production is prohibited Australia, Mexico and the United
States (Hawaii, Minnesota and North Dakota have voted to allow hemp-growing
experiments).

COMMERCIAL USES: Paper (including newsprint), diapers, rope, carpet,
insulation, fabrics, oil paint, varnishes, ink, motor oil, soap, shampoo,
margarine, granola and birdseed.