GROUPS ASK U.S. TO ALLOW HEMP FARMING, NOW ILLEGAL

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Clinton administration was asked Monday to allow
farmers to grow hemp, a relative of banned marijuana.

Petitions were filed with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the
Agriculture Department for a change in policy, a coalition of farm,
business and environmental groups said.

The DEA was asked to remove industrial hemp from its list of illegal drugs.
The Agriculture Department was asked to create a licensing system for
cultivating the crop.

Hemp, which has been bred to eliminate virtually all the mind-affecting
chemicals in botanically identical marijuana, has excited interest as a
fabric for apparel and furnishings, as well as as for its traditional use
in rope and canvas. It has a wider color range and a more durable fiber
than other natural textiles, proponents say.

Some Tobacco Belt farmers also have become interested in hemp as a
potentially high-profit alternative to tobacco in view of attempts to
curtail smoking.

Filing the petitions were the North American Industrial Hemp Council, a
trade group for farm and business organizations interested in the crop, and
the Resource Conservation Alliance, an environmental group affiliated with
consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

``It's time for America to get its head out of the sand. Hemp is not a
drug,'' NAIHC head Bud Sholts said in a statement.

Law enforcement officials have been reluctant to change regulations for
hemp out of fear it would interfere with drug-law enforcement, since hemp
looks like marijuana.

In January the American Farm Bureau, the largest U.S. farm group, withdrew
its support for research into hemp. Delegates cited law-enforcement
concerns and said they didn't want to be linked with groups like the
National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws Now.