POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: EDWARDS ON INDUSTRIAL HEMP

Stumping for votes in New Hampshire, presidential candidate John Edwards
breezed through questions about war, health care and poverty before being
stumped by a query about industrial hemp.

"I could tell you, in general, my position about the medical use of
marijuana, which is not what you are talking about," Edwards told a
questioner Wednesday at an outdoor town meeting. "You are talking about
industrialized hemp being used for WHAT?"

Fiber from the plant, a relative of marijuana, is used to make paper,
clothing, rope and other products. Its oil is found in lotions, cosmetics
and some foods, and Paul Stillwell of Concord, N.H., said hemp also can be
used to produce fuel.

Stillwell said he had just gotten his first fuel-oil delivery and noted that
textile jobs are being lost in Edwards' home state of North Carolina. He
asked if Edwards supports legalizing industrial hemp.

"I didn't know that's where that question was going," Edwards said, with a
laugh. "I had not thought about that as a solution to the problem,
honestly."

Edwards promised to get him an answer.

The senator attracted a crowd of several hundred people partly by offering
free hot dogs. Some who came ate and left before Edwards showed up.

"This is as close to a free lunch as any Democrat gets in this state," said
Peter Burling, leader of the minority Democrats in the New Hampshire House.
He stayed to hear some of Edwards' comments, even though he supports Rep.
Dick Gephardt of Missouri.