Hemp is a source of strong fibers and nutritious oils, say those who want to
resume cultivation of the crop in the United States. Hemp is the evil weed
known as marijuana, say others who want the ban to stay in place.

As far as Canadian farmers are concerned, those groups may go in a corner
and fight it out. Their government has lifted the prohibition, and they are
sowing their first crop of Cannabis sativa in 60 years. That they won't face
competition from American farmers pleases them no little.

Hemp is an herb native to Asia. It was a staple crop of colonial settlers.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp. Hemp paper was used in
early drafts of the Declaration of Inde-pendence, and hemp ropes kept
generations of American ships sailing the Seven Seas. Up until the 1980s,
Newport, was using colonial-era water pipes made of wood wrapped in hemp.
The hemp looked pretty good after 200 years.

Hemp's strength and versatility are appreciated today. It goes into paper,
auto parts, textiles, oils. Hemp is environmentally friendly. The plant
requires little in the way of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. A rug
maker, in Georgia plans to market a hemp carpet that could be turned into
compost.

The magazine Hemp Times carries ads for a hemp-material back-pack, marketed
by a company in Costa Mesa, Calif. And there's the Jefferson Shirt, made of
guess what, and sold by the Coalition for Hemp Awareness, in Chandler
Heights, Ariz. Were all these products rolled up into a giant joint, they
wouldn't produce much of a high.

Hemp's raffish reputation has made it a bit fashionable. The Galaxy
restaurant in Manhattan offers waffles flecked with hemp seeds and mesclun
with a vinaigrette of hemp seed oil. Hemp is said to taste like a cross
between hazelnut and walnut.

Canadian farmers are planting an industrial type of hemp, not the kind that
hippies smoke. Nevertheless, anti-marijuana groups fear that permitting any
hemp production would' open the door for legalization of pot.

Their concerns are not unfounded. The industrial hemp plant looks an awful
lot like its smokeable cousin, according to the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, in Washington. Who would ever find the euphoric versions of
the herb tucked into the acres of waving in-dustrial hemp?

The Canadian government insists it is keeping close tabs on the production
of hemp. Farmers growing it must be licensed, and they may not produce.
plants that have more than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive ingredient. And
the Canadians will send around inspectors to ensure that farmers are growing
hemp intended for rope, not dope.

We will see.

American farmers feel left out. The North Dakota legislature last year voted
to have their state university study the p0-tential of industrial hemp as a
crop.

"Although lots of jokes persist, I am serious about" the bill, said
Republican Rep. David Monson. "This is as Amenican as baseball and apple
pie." (Did he know that the Galaxy restaurant has apple pie with hemp-flour
crust on its menu?)

The University of Vermont asked Vermont farmers whether they would like to
grow hemp. They would.

Pro-pot activists are euphoric over the return of industrial hemp. They see
its potential for opening the door to marijuana legalization.

Agricultural groups have put distance between themselves and the weed
smokers. But would it be a bad thing if the legitimization of hemp led to
fewer sanctions against pot? Not in this opinion.

Marijuana has been smoked, albeit illicitly, for a long time. It does not
appear to be physically addictive. Researchers have yet to produce
convincing evidence that marijuana serves as a gateway to more serious drug
use. Domesticating pot production certainly would eliminate a bloody
smuggling trade that plagues our southern border.

The "Reefer Madness" movement, which froze hemp farming in 1936, deserves an
exhibition case at the Smithsonian with no hope for parole. Perhaps the time
has come to become grown up about hemp and resume cultivation of this
unnecessarily vilified herb.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett