U.S. ASKED TO LIFT HEMP BAN

Legalization May Hurt Efforts To Stamp Out Marijuana, Officials Say

WASHINGTON -- Industrial hemp has 25,000 uses ranging from construction
material to paper to clothing, but smoking it to get stoned is not among
them. Yet proponents of hemp say it could give farmers a financial high.

"There's an incredible opportunity," said Jeffrey Gain, a hemp proponent
and former chief of the National Corn Growers Association. "There is too
much emphasis on too few crops. We need to start adding crops."

But right now, the federal government bans cultivation of industrial hemp
and considers it a controlled substance, no different from its
hallucinogenic cousin marijuana.

Several groups, including the North American Industrial Hemp Council and
the Resource Conservation Alliance, want to change that.

They are preparing to petition the Drug Enforcement Administration to drop
hemp from the controlled substance list.

They want the Agriculture Department to set up a system of certifying hemp
seeds and licensing farmers.

"We're asking them to refine the definition of marijuana," said Ned Daly,
director of the Resource Conservation Alliance, on Friday. "Hemp is not a
drug and cannot be used as a drug."

Hemp has a long history in the United States.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew it. The Declaration of
Independence was drafted on hemp paper. During World War II, the federal
government mounted a "Hemp for Victory" growing campaign for many military
uses, including ropes, tents and parachute cords.

Some agricultural economists say farmers today could gross up to $500 an
acre for hemp. Canada legalized it earlier this month after a 60-year ban,
in part because of the income potential for farmers, and several U.S.
states are promoting hemp research.

Hemp and marijuana are varieties of the cannabis sativa plant. But hemp
typically contains less than 1 percent of the active ingredient, THC, that
makes pot smokers high. Marijuana plants contain 10 percent to 20 percent THC.

"It's not psychoactive," said Paul Gordon Mahlberg, a biology professor at
Indiana University.

Still, the DEA and President Clinton's drug control policy director, Barry
McCaffrey, say hemp's legalization could hinder efforts to stamp out
marijuana.

"A serious law enforcement concern is that a potential byproduct of
legalizing hemp production would be de facto legalization of marijuana
cultivation," McCaffrey's office said in a statement. "The seedlings are
the same and in many instances the mature plants look the same."

Supporters of ending the ban say that is just blowing smoke. They say hemp
plants are far taller than marijuana, are grown much closer together and
typically are not allowed to flower. The flowering produces the buds that
marijuana growers covet.

"The dope argument lacks any merit," said Hawaii state Rep. Cynthia
Thielen, a Republican who says farmers in her state want hemp as an
alternative to sugar and pineapples.

"You can tell the difference. You're licensing farmers so you know where
the crop is. If someone's growing that isn't licensed, bust them."

The Agriculture Department, however, questions how profitable hemp might
actually be: It is labor intensive and cheaper alternatives already exist
for many of its uses. For instance, hemp linen costs $15 a square yard,
compared with only $7.50 for flax linen.

"Hemp production in the United States has no demonstrated economic value
potential as a cash crop," the McCaffrey statement said.

But proponents are undeterred, noting that Canadian farmers plan to plant
5,000 acres of hemp this spring and farmers in England and Germany have
turned solid profits from it for years.

Some of the more unusual uses for hemp include reinforcement in concrete,
as a replacement for fiberglass in cars, in shoes and even as a cosmetic oil.

Beyond the economic arguments, proponents say hemp is good for field
rotations that help sustain soil and reduce harmful insects.

"It's a legitimate crop with enormous economic and environmental
potential," Gain said.

Copyright 1998, The Detroit News