VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO TOBACCO IS HEMP

Periodically, you've got to figure out the way to overcome the obstacles
and take the alternative path. That some time is now, for Kentucky farmers.
That alternative is hemp production. Currently, only the state of Hawaii is
in the commercial hemp game, but more and more states are looking at it as
a viable option to cash-strapped farmers.

Kentucky needs to get on board now. Law enforcement is opposed to hemp
primarily because the plant looks so much like marijuana. Surely, there is
an answer to this problem. Perhaps it lies in agriculture science, which
through intense study can change the basic structure of the hemp plant.
Perhaps the answer lies in a tight enrollment, inspection process. Maybe
it's in an effective electronic sensoring system, heretofore unknown, by
the state agricultural department via local ag officials. Bottom line,
countries including France, Romania, Hungary and China have figured a way
to allow production. We in Kentucky can do the same.

Former Kentucky governor Louie Nunn was in Bloomfield last week, beating
the hemp drum loudly as the state's next tobacco crop. The versatility of
industrial hemp is what excites Nunn and other proponents of hemp. It's a
long list, but just a part of the end uses include paper, building
materials, animal bedding, mulch, supplement in foods such as salad oil and
margarine, widespread application in the textile industry, as well as
technical textiles, which include such items as twine, rope, nets, canvas
bags, tarps and carpets, and industrial products like compression-molded
parts, brake and clutch linings, and caulking. Hence, the demand is great.

The fear of hemp as a drug is over-stated, at best. If you hold your breath
long enough, you can get some type of sensation. Truth is, one's lungs
would give out long before getting much of a high from industrial hemp. The
true dopers want the real thing; they're not looking for something that
won't get them to the ozone. Nelson County farmers and others close to the
ag scene would do themselves a favor by demanding proactive legislation.
The time is now.