HEMP ADVOCATES SUE GOVERNMENT TO RESCIND BAN ON PLANT

Farmers seek an official distinction between the product and its narcotic
cousin.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Farmers, a hemp company and a trade organization sued the
government Friday to get the 26-year ban on growing industrial hemp lifted,
contending that Congress never intended for it to be illegal.

The lawsuit by six would-be hemp farmers, the Kentucky Hemp Growers
Cooperative and the Hemp Co. of America contends that hemp's illegal status
violates a 1937 determination by Congress that the plant doesn't share the
psychoactive effects of its cousin, marijuana.

"We're going to try to get the definition re-created," said Andy Graves,
president of the cooperative.

Hemp growing was made illegal under the Controlled Substances Act of 1972.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington.

Plaintiffs say the Drug Enforcement Administration's hemp prohibition
violates the constitutional doctrine of separation of government powers.
Defendants in the suit are the DEA and the Justice Department.

Farmers have long complained that the government makes no distinction
between marijuana and hemp, which supporters say is a nearly perfect crop
with uses ranging from medicine to rope.

Hemp and marijuana are both varieties of the cannabis plant. But hemp,
which is grown commercially in some other countries, typically contains
less than 1 percent of the active ingredient, THC, that makes pot smokers
high.

Farmers in the South and Midwest view disease-resistant hemp as a crop to
be rotated with grains and vegetables, and in Kentucky, it offers a hedge
against tobacco's uncertain future.

John Howell of the Hemp Co. said he has buyers who want hemp pulp for
paper, its linen for cloth and its oil for medicine and lubrication uses.

The hemp debate has long raged in Kentucky, where it was produced in huge
quantities for rope during World War 11 and where wild stands are still
common. A state legislative committee conducted hearings on the topic in
1997, which prompted a letter to Gov. Paul Patton from national drug czar
Barry McCaffrey.

"Hemp and marijuana are the same plant: The seedlings are the same and in
many instances the mature plants look the same," McCaffrey said.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)