GIVE HEMP A CHANCE

Drug politics keep us from testing economists' theories

It's too bad the politics of marijuana thwart any practical investigation
of the economics of hemp. A new study, by a trio of University of Kentucky
economists, strengthens the case for giving farmers a chance to at least
experiment with growing and marketing industrial hemp, a crop that is
illegal in this country although allowed in much of the world, including
Canada.

Unfortunately, as long as law-enforcement officials keep their heels dug
in, the UK economists' predictions will never be put to the test. >From
national drug czar Barry McCaffrey to state Justice Secretary Dan Cherry on
down, the attitude seems to be that letting farmers grow hemp would somehow
constitute a government wink at marijuana use.

Such fears are misguided on several counts. Hemp farms would be licensed
and subject to surprise inspections. The two crops aren't particularly
compatible or even similar in appearance, though they are botanical cousins.

Forget the facts, though.

No politician can risk being labeled soft on drugs. So an environmentally
friendly crop that might help family farms finds no champions among the
powerful or the elected.

No one in Washington or Frankfort has been able to authorize test plots or
a pilot program similar to what Canada has. Even the conservative Farm
Bureau has endorsed industrial hemp.

Its strong fibers have numerous uses -- as a substitute for trees in
paper-making, as fabric in clothes, automobiles and carpet, even as a
substitute for plastic. The leftover pulp could be used as animal bedding.
But the practical experimentation that could determine hemp's potential as
an option for tobacco farmers falls victim to irrational fears and politics.

Who knows. The market might make the drug czar's case better than he can.
After all, only the market can provide irrefutable economic evidence. As it
now stands, those interested in industrial hemp as a cash crop are dealing
in hypotheticals. There are no facilities in this country for processing
raw hemp straw.

No one can say with certainty how demand for hemp would be affected by a
new domestic supply. Without some domestic sources, it's hard to predict to
what extent hemp would replace other raw materials in everything from paper
to cars.

Even at UK, economists are divided. An agricultural economist who produced
an earlier study still says it would be cheaper to import hemp than grow it
here.

But the most recent study, commissioned by a pro-hemp group and released
last week, concludes that hemp could be the best thing for Kentucky farms
since tobacco.

The study says the existing market for raw hemp would support cultivating
82,000 acres in the United States and growers could expect to clear $200 to
$600 an acre. That's considerably less than the profit from an acre of
tobacco but better than corn, hay, soybeans and wheat.

It's time to quell the reefer madness and figure out how to let farmers
experiment with a crop that could help them stay in business.

All Contents Copyright 1998 Lexington Herald-Leader. All Rights Reserved

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski