HEMP MUSEUM OPENS DOORS TO HISTORY OF VERSATILE PLANT

At one time, Woodford County produced more hemp seed than any other single
location in the United States. In the past, hemp was the source of a vast
array of products from oil to textiles to foodstuffs.

But hemp fell out of favor, partly because of the availability of
alternatives to these products but also because a close relative,
marijuana, was deemed a criminal substance to produce because of its
psychoactive properties.

But a movement has been under way for several years to reintroduce hemp to
Kentucky as an agricultural commodity. To help educate people about the
benefits of this versatile plant, the Kentucky hemp Growers Cooperative has
opened its museum and library in Versailles at 149 Lexington Street. A
ribbon cutting ceremony for the museum was held on June 4.

The Kentucky Hemp Museum and Library has actually been around as an entity
since 1994, created as a tool to teach people about the cultural, historic
and economic impact of hemp in Kentucky and the U.S. It sponsored a 1995
poll which showed that 77 percent of respondents favored the growing of
industrial hemp.

A mobile museum exhibit was created in 1996, which toured the state, other
parts of the country, and paid a visit to Vancouver, Canada with the help
of the Deni Montana Foundation, the museum and library sponsored a 1998
economic impact study of industrial hemp in Kentucky.

The museum is interested in obtaining either oral or written history from
people who remember when hemp was produced in Kentucky as well as any
memorabilia related to hemp production.

For more information call: (606) 873-8957 or by e-mail (kyhempmuse@aol.com)