GONE TO POT? CANNABIS UNLIKELY AS IRISH FUEL

LONDON (Reuters) - Irish homes and businesses are unlikely to be
powered by cannabis despite four years of encouraging research that
shows the plant has real potential as a fuel crop, scientists said
Thursday.

Cannabis sativa, or hemp, does not work economically as a biomass crop
at the moment in Ireland said Bernard Rice of the government's Teagasc
agricultural research agency.

"As things stand, hemp is not a viable fuel. It tends to be wind power
projects that pick up the tenders for renewable energy schemes. Hemp
would have to be considerably cheaper to produce and burn in order to
compete," he told Reuters.

Fears that burning the hemp might produce a narcotic effect are
unfounded, say experts. Hemp is the variety of cannabis sativa that
contains hardly any of the drug delta-9 tetrahydrocannabiol (THC).

"You would have to smoke a joint the size of a telegraph pole to
experience any effects" said John Lowe, of hemp processing company
Hemcore.