RESEARCHER ASKS TEST PLOTS OF HEMP

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- The best way to find out whether it makes sense to grow
industrial hemp -- the plant from which the drug marijuana can be derived
- -- is to plant a few test plots, a University of Vermont economist says.

Dr. Jane Kolodinsky, an associate professor of economics, told the state
House and Senate Agriculture committees there is not enough information
about the potential market for U.S.-grown hemp to predict whether farmers
could make money growing it in Vermont.

But its success as a niche product in Europe indicates it is worth a try,
Kolodinsky said.

"It seems that there are several definitely positive things about" growing
industrial hemp, Kolodinsky said after a meeting of the two committees.
"Unless you try something, perhaps on a small scale, you can argue about it
for years and perhaps never get anywhere," she said.

Several Vermont lawmakers have been pushing to legalize hemp as a farm
crop. Gov. Howard Dean, citing the drug associations, has sworn to veto any
such bill that passes the Legislature. The movement to grow hemp has
scattered support in several other state legislatures.

An effort two years ago in Vermont to legalize hemp did not survive, but
lawmakers authorized a university study.

The tough stem of the hemp plant can be used to make rope, clothing and
many other products. It is used in Europe, India, China and other
countries. The seeds can be used for oil.

But because the plant can also be used to produce the chemical THC, the
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, some politicans and members of the
public are leery of letting farmers grow it.

Botanist David S. Barrington told the committees that the amount of THC
ranges widely in hemp plants, with a much higher amount in plants that are
cultivated for drug use. But Barrington could not specify what level of THC
makes a plant useful to marijuana users who want to smoke the leaves and
get high.

Kolodinsky said the hemp industry most likely to succeed in the United
States would be paper, followed by textile and then production of
composites such as building materials. She said it is unkown whether demand
would expand to meet an increased supply if U.S. farmers added their hemp
crops to the world market, and there is little information to show how a
new industrial hemp business would fare.

"In a small-scale niche market, several people would do very well in the
industry," Kolondinsky said. "But unless it can somehow gain wide-scale
appeal, the industry would struggle."