HEMP TIME ?

It looks like marijuana but might be an ingredient in your next beer or may
even play a role in improving your skin.

Hemp products beverages, snacks, clothing, jewelry, stationery and skin
conditioners are hot these days but local farmers are unable to cash in on
this bonanza.

The Body Shop in the Centre at Salisbury offers dozens of hemp-derived
products claiming to improve skin conditions.

People who work at the franchise company report sales have exceeded
expectations even though a display at the store's entrance features a plant
which resembles a marijuana leaf. The company's founder, Anita Roddick, was
featured on the cover of the national magazine Hemp Times.

Body Shop supervisors report this unusual advertising technique has
prompted a few curious inquiries, but no backlash. The store offers several
informational brochures on hemp.

In Ocean City, hemp products have produced a successful business for Down
to Earthware Inc.

Randy A. Adams, a sales representative of the business owned by Michael P.
Weaver, said sales are better than ever at the 3-year-old business. (Their
business cards are printed on 100 percent hemp.)

For two bucks you can buy a snack treat similar to a granola bar that uses
hemp seeds, and a 250- page, letter-sized note pad that did not require the
sacrifice of a single tree.

You can also buy pants, shirts, purses, jewelry and dozens of other
products made from hemp.

Hempen Ale is formulated, brewed and bottled by Frederick Brewing Co. in
Frederick, Md. The label on the brown bottles contains this information:

"... it is brewed with the seed of the hemp plant, which give the beer its
creamy head and impart mellow herbal flavors and aromas.

"For millennia, people around the world have prized hemp for its
versatility. Its strong fibers are use to make paper, cloth and rope. Its
seeds are excellent sources of lubricants and edible oils. And we think it
makes one tasty beer."

While these products are diverse and reportedly selling fast, federal law
prohibits growing hemp plants (Cannabis sativa) in the United States under
any circumstances.

Why? The official reason is because of hemp's connection to its cousin,
marijuana, which contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Smoking hemp-plant
derivatives such as marijuana can produce a sense of euphoria.

Some farmers and local store owners say hemp has become a casuality in the
country's war on drugs.

The prohibition was suspended during World War II after the U.S. government
promoted hemp farming due to wartime shortages of commercial hemp products.

It encouraged farmers to grow hemp and even produced a film called ``Hemp
for Victory.''

Congress recently doubled the Drug Enforcement Agency's marijuana
eradication budget to continue to kill the wild hemp plants left over from
a war five decades ago.

Canada has already legalized the growing of hemp, a plant so hardy it needs
no pesticides or fertilizer to flourish even in soil unsuitable for other
cash crops.

Although growing hemp plants is illegal, the United States does allow the
import of non-narcotic hemp products.

A coalition of Kentucky farmers recently sued the DEA and the U.S.
Department of Justice, asserting Congress never intended to ban industrial
hemp. The suit, the first of its kind filed in a federal court, asked a
judge to determine whether farmers can use their land to grow and produce
hemp for commercial and industrial purposes.

Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, the nation's drug czar, has ridiculed the
contention that Kentucky farmers need to grow hemp as a replacement for
tobacco.

An employee of the Maryland Cooperative Extension Service said an acre of
soybeans could yield a gross income of about $258; an acre of corn about
$302. This does not include labor or chemical costs.

An acre of tobacco can return as much as $5,000 and an acre of hemp about
$1,200.

It naturally grows on land that will produce little else without chemical
assistance. It seems to flourish even under harsh conditions.

Many of the documents associated with the American Revolutionary War were
written on paper created from hemp. Benjamin Franklin (whose image graces
our $100 bills) reportedly used hemp string on his kite while exploring the
wonders of electricity.

Another aspect of the hemp debate is its effect on the War on Drugs. Former
Daily Times' reporter Rowan Scarborough penned an article for his present
employer, The Washington Times, titled "Health drink challenges military
drug-testing program."

According to the report, Master Sgt. Spencer Gaines, 41, assigned to the
Dover Air Force Base, was court-martialed after a random test revealed THC
in his urine. A jury of three officers and four enlisted men acquitted
Gaines after he identified Liquid Gold as the culprit.

This commerical nutritional supplement reportedly helps lower cholesterol,
but it also contains legal hemp products which can produce a false positive
test for marijuana in urine tests.

Former Salisbury mayoral candidate Robert Ryan is an outspoken critic of
several aspects of the drug war.

Ryan, an engineer, is exploring a new nonpolitical adventure. He is
developing a commercial salad dressing using hemp oil that he says has a
unique nutty flavor and is good for you.

"Hemp oil is a source of essential fatty acids Omega 3 and 6 which are
beneficial to people with high cholesterol health problems," Ryan said.

He readily acknowledges consumers like the career Air Force serviceman in
Dover risk the possibility of falsely testing positive for THC. He plans to
include a government-style warning to this effect on his product.

There is considerable and growing evidence the commercial advantages of
legally growing hemp in this country could overwhelm opponents.

It's safe to say the restore-hemp-as-an-agricultural-and-commercial-product
movement has begun.