HEMP'S GOOD HABITS

WHAT do bibles, Adidas sneakers and the first draft of America's
Declaration of Independence have in common? The fact that they've all been
made from hemp, the hippest and most controversial plant material around.
Strong, fast-growing and resistant to weevils, hemp's versatility is lauded
by its fans. "It can save the world," suggests Anita Roddick, Body Shop's
never-knowingly-understated founder, who is using hemp's oil-rich seeds to
make her gloppy moisturisers.

Popular for centuries, hemp was gradually supplanted by commercially grown
cotton and political prejudice (because of its kinship to marijuana). But
now it is creeping back. Its toughness has attracted Daimler-Benz, which is
looking at its potential as an alternative to fibreglass. It is also being
considered as a supplement to wood pulp in paper. And fashion designers
such as Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani, who created an all-hemp tuxedo for
actor Woody Harrelson, swear by its softness and durability. It is being
used in a number of niche products as well. For example, its
super-absorbency makes ideal bedding for England's royal horses, while
eco-friendly young things seem to like its nutty taste in beer.

Hemp is grown freely in much of the world. In March, Canada legalised its
commercial planting after a 60-year ban; and the EU subsidises its
production. But, not surprisingly, the plant is causing a problem in
puritanical America. Although importing sterilised hemp seeds into the
United States is permitted, America's Drug Enforcement Administration
cracks down on anyone growing it, and spends some $500m a year trying to
wipe out wild hemp. The DEA worries that hemp and marijuana plants are
indistinguishable, and that hemp plots could be used to hide marijuana
bushes.

These are bitterly contested points. Though both are members of the
cannabis family, hemp and marijuana are not the same plant. Hemp contains
only a small fraction of marijuana's active narcotic, THC . In May, this
led a bunch of Kentucky farmers to try their luck and sue the federal
government for the right to grow industrial hemp.

Their case is not being helped by marketing campaigns elsewhere which play
on the link with the cannabis family. A slogan for Body Shop's hemp
moisturiser, for example, claims: "it softens your hands without short-term
memory loss", while the Mill Creek Brewery named its "420 Hemp Ale" after
the cod e for police officers doing a drug bust.

It is also unclear whether hemp will ever be a commercial success. Jeffrey
Gain, chairman of the Department of Agriculture's venture-capital arm,
argues that hemp could be a useful alternative for America's suffering
wheat and tobacco farmers, boosting the yields of crops rotated with it and
offering protein levels in its seeds as high as soya's. However, he admits
that the real challenge is harvesting it. Hemp is woody and grows up to 15
feet tall; separation of its long and short fibres is labour-intensive and
requires specialist machinery.

The strength of demand is also uncertain, given the faddishness of many
potential markets. However, if America's farmers were given a chance to
grow the stuff, consumers would be better able to decide whether to make
hemp a habit.

Copyright 1998. The Economist Newspaper Limited.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)