Sides Debate Legalizing Crop That Resembles Marijuana

By Gil Lawson
Staff Writer

FRANKFORT, Ky. The great hemp debate arrived before state lawmakers
yesterday, with the prohemp forces squaring off against state police and the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Neither side was a clear winner, but hemp advocates were pleased to
get a
hearing before a legislative committee.
ìItís an issue whose time has come,î said state Sen. Barry Metcalf, a
Richmond Republican and candidate for the U.S. Senate who has filed a bill
directing the University of Kentucky to conduct research on hemp. His
brother, Garrard County Attorney Mark Metcalf, represents on of the prohemp
groups.
Some Kentucky farmers advocate changes that would let them legally grow
industrial hemp that could be used to make clothes, paper and other products.
But lawenforcement officials object, saying that hemp canít be distinguished
from marijuana.
The prohemp proposal is ìnothing more than an attempt to legalize the
growing of marijuana,î state police Commissioner Gary Rose told members of
the Interim Joint Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources yesterday.
The panel didnít vote, but hemp supporters had a chance to make their pitch.
ìI donít think we came into this with any kind of high
expectations. . . .
This is on step,î said Julia Williams of Community Farm Alliance.
Several dozen members of prohemp groups, who helped fill the
hearing room
yesterday, contended they want nothing to do with growing illegal marijuana.
They argued that hemp plants contain very small amounts of THC, the
psychoactive component of marijuana, and that they would be willing to leave
their fields open for police inspection.
No one mentioned the recent court case involving actor Woody
Harrelson, who
was charged with possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor, after he planted
four industrial hemp seeds in Lee County last year. A judge last week upheld
a previous court ruling declaring the stateís marijuana law
unconstitutionally broad.
Hemp supporters said other countries are taking advantage of a
growing hemp
market and exporting it to the United States, while Kentucky farmers search
for crops that can turn a profit.
ìI think itís a travesty,î said Andy Graves, president of the
Kentucky Hemp
Growers Cooperative Association Inc. ìIndustrial hemp is grown all over the
world except here.î
Hemp has a rich tradition in Kentucky. It was a popular crop in the late
1700s and early 1800s when it was used to make rope and sails. It saw a brief
rebirth during World War II. Kentucky also has a national reputation for
growing large amounts of illegal marijuana.
Legislators had many questions. Is there a market for industrial
hemp? Can
it be distinguished from marijuana? What changes in state and federal law are
needed?
ìBefore any farmer jumps into it, we need to know those answers,î said
Ronnie Pryor of the Kentucky Farm Bureau, which supports more research of
hemp. Pryor noted that tobacco brings in between $4,000 and $6,000 an acre
while the estimates for hemp range between $200 and $500 an acre.
Mark Metcalf, the lawyer representing the hemp growers cooperative,
testified that he prosecutes people for possessing marijuana and understands
the concerns of lawenforcement officers. But Metcalf, a former Republican
candidate for Congress, said heís trying to help farmers with legalized hemp,
not marijuana.
Supporters said hemp plants are grown close together, unlike marijuana
plants, and they noted that they would be subject to registration.
On the other side of the hemp issue was Rose, the state police
commissioner,
who was joined by Justice Secretary Dan Cherry and Gregory Williams, chief of
domestic operations for the DEA. Backing them up were the two U.S. attorneys
for Kentucky, Mike Troop and Joe Famularo.
Williams said federal law bars the growing of hemp and that there
are many
questions about how it would be monitored and how police would be able to
tell the difference between hemp and marijuana. Williams also said he thinks
allowing hemp would send the wrong message to youths.
The DEA can issue permits for growing hemp for research but has not
issued
any, Williams said.
Cherry cited a June 30 letter to Gov. Paul Patton from Barry McCaffery,
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. McCaffery called hemp
ìa novelty product which can only sustain a novelty market.î McCaffery also
said legalizing hemp production ìmight well be de facto legalization of the
cultivation of marijuana.î
The opposition by state police was enough for Rep. Jim Stewart, a
Republican
from Flat Lick in Knox County, an are of the state known for marijuana
production. Stewart said that if the state police were against growing hemp,
he was too.
ìI heard you loud and clear,î Steward told Rose. (END)