CANNABIS CAMOUFLAGE

Gilbert area farmer Malcolm Scott gives visitors a quick disclaimer about
his 40-acre crop: "It's not what you think it is."

Tell that to the drivers who put on the brakes and tiptoe out of their cars
to snatch a few leaves from what looks like a giant field of healthy
marijuana plants along Warner Road near 178th Street.

Or the do-gooders who call the sheriff's office to report some criminal
agriculture.

Scott, however, isn't harvesting that kind of weed. What he is sowing is
cannabis hibiscus, otherwise known as kenaf, a close relative of the illegal
cannabis sativa but without the hallucinogenic properties.

A hardy fiber crop that's drought- and pest-resistent, kenaf is on a U.S.
Department of Agriculture list of preferred alternative crops, authorities
say.

According to the USDA, kenaf stalks can be used to make paper, cloth, animal
bedding, cat litter, plastics extenders, oil slick absorbers, livestock feed
and packing material.

"It is a problem for people who try to use it as a controlled substance,"
said Robert Armstrong, a USDA official in Washington, D.C.

Armstrong, who heads USDA's Alternative Agriculture Research Corp., says his
office has received reports that young thieves who tried to smoke the crop
got nothing more than inflammed throats and irritated airways.

Scott said he doesn't know if any of his passers-by-turned-thieves inhale.

"But," he added, "my neighbor said he'd like to have a nickel for everybody
he sees stopping to take some."

Nearly identical in appearance to marijuana plants, kenaf has seven instead
of five parts to its leaves.

"It took me two years of growing it to figure that out" Scott said of the
difference.

Olgia Scott drove into son Malcolm's driveway Tuesday and ran over to the
irrigation ditch to announce the latest visitor.

"Somebody in a company truck is out there trying to collect some marijuana!"
She laughed.

Sgt. Dave Trombi of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said dispatchers
have received numerous calls "reporting a marijuana field" on Scott's farm.

"But we've been out there," he noted, "and we know it's not the case."

Although the kenaf thieves can't be arrested on drug charges, Trombi said
they can be arrested for theft.

Olgia, and her husband of 58 years, Jessie, moved to the East Valley from
New Mexico in 1950 and bought 300 acres near Gilbert and Mesa to farm
cotton. She is pleased that her son has found a crop with more potential for
profits.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, Malcolm sought advice from university
experts a few years ago after drought conditions forced him to stop a
portion of his farming operation on leased land in the Gila River Indian
Community.

"I became good friends with those people, and I made a promise to them that
when I found something profitable, I'd come back," he said.

After three years of experimenting with kenaf, Scott and the Gila River
Community are ready to plant thousands of acres on the reservation next
year. Construction will begin in April on Arizona's first kenaf processing
plant near Sacaton.

Scott's first harvests will eventually be turned into soft, splinter-free
animal bedding, but the dried stalks will be stored pending construction of
the Gila River processing plant.

The versatile crop can be cut with traditional corn harvesting equipment and
stored for years without spoiling, he said.

For Armstrong, kenaf has more global implications.

"One of our mandates is to expand the crop base and replace our
petrolium-based economy with a bio-based economy," he said. "We're trying to
save the world here.

"Eighty percent of the U.S. crops today are corn, wheat or soybeans. We're
setting ourselves up for a bit of a genetic disaster if we don't expand the
crop base."

Edythe Jensen can be reached at 444-7939 or at edythe.jensen@pni.com.

Checked-by: Don Beck