HEMP DEBATE GETS BUMPER CROP OF ATTENTION

LOUISVILLE -- The actor wore casual hemp clothing. He said there is no good
reason hemp farming should not be allowed in Kentucky, a state where it
once flourished.

The retired federal drug agent wore a conservative dark suit with suspenders.

He spoke of "hemp-slash-marijuana," which he said is a bad idea because
drug enforcement agents wouldn't be able to distinguish the plant that
doesn't produce a high from the one that does.

The only hemp grower in the room said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had
strolled through his fields in Ontario and remarked that it looked very
different from marijuana.

So went yesterday's lopsided debate on the merits of industrial hemp before
the Louisville Forum, a group of businesspeople who gather monthly to hear
discussions on controversial subjects.

The hemp debate brought extra helpings of controversy, plus a mini-media
horde attracted by the star power of actor Woody Harrelson.

The debate also had promised the first debate ever between Kentucky hemp
advocates and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

But a forum organizer said Rick Sanders, the resident agent in charge of
the DEA's Kentucky office, pulled out at the last minute without offering
an explanation. Sanders did not return telephone calls from the
Herald-Leader.

His absence left David Haight, a retired DEA agent, to face the friends of hemp.

Those people included Andy Graves, a Lexington farmer who is president of
the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association.

Graves' father, Jake Graves, who turned 73 yesterday, grew hemp during
World War II. The younger Graves pointed out that hemp is grown in 29
countries, but that his is the first of seven generations of his family
that is not allowed to grow it.

"Fifty-six years of brainwashing the public that this crop is a demon is
insane," he said.

Andy Graves also said a Monday article in The Courier-Journal that reported
a rift between him and Harrelson was "fabricated." An Associated Press
version of that article appeared in Tuesday's Herald-Leader.

He praised Harrelson as someone who gave time and money for a cause he
believes in.

Harrelson said he became interested in hemp as a way to lessen dependence
on cutting trees to make paper and on using petroleum to make plastic. He
ignored a question from the audience about whether he also favors
legalization of marijuana.

Haight, the retired DEA agent, said some who support hemp -- present
company excluded, he said -- really want to grow marijuana.

But Jean Laprise, grower of Canada's largest hemp crop, said a farmer
growing hemp under strict government regulation would be foolish to slip
marijuana into the fields. He added that marijuana would be of low quality
if it cross-pollinated with hemp.

"I know there's talk of marijuana production going up significantly because
we have industrial hemp. I think that's a crock," Laprise said.

"If anybody in this room thinks for a minute that those who want marijuana
in this country are not getting an adequate supply, they need to get their
head examined."

All Contents Copyright 1998 Lexington Herald-Leader.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)