HIGH-YIELD CROP COULD BOOST NH REVENUES

While gambling schemes may deliver economic benefits ("Boost gambling
to save NH way," by Scott Flegal), it's just more bread and circus --
entertainment venues that produce nothing of lasting value.

Gambling offers no direct benefit to rural taxpayers who choose not to
work and play in that sort of economy. As a farm state struggling
through this recession, New Hampshire would be better served by
legalizing the cultivation of agricultural cannabis.

Industrial hemp (not marijuana) is a hardy, high-yield-per-acre crop
that yields nutritious seeds, valuable oils, and superior fiber for
paper, pressboard, cordage and cloth -- without heavy use of farm chemicals.

Worldwide demand for hemp materials is surging; full-scale production
in New Hampshire would spark sustainable opportunities across a range
of local industries -- farming, processing and production, product
design, distribution, and professional services.

Hemp cultivation is of course prohibited by federal laws that are
dutifully followed by the loyalists who run our state. Prohibitionists
are certainly strong and committed to maintaining the status quo, but
no more so than the forces our founders had to push back against.

Farming communities in New Hampshire, get informed, get organized and
stand up for your right to participate in this emerging economic and
agricultural frontier.

Carl Hedberg

Lyndeborough