HEMP HOLDS PROMISE FOR FARMERS, JOBS

State Sen. Karen Facemyer has something there in a bill to legalize the
cultivation of industrial hemp and help grow West Virginia's economy, like
other states that are turning to hemp production.

Facemyer, R-Jackson, has seen such a turn in Hawaii, where farmers switched
to industrial hemp to replace the loss of pineapple sales to Asian
competitors. The change impressed her.

But her colleagues on the Agriculture Committee want more answers to
questions about hemp before taking any action on the bill.

I recall that the senator offered a similar bill last year.

She asked state Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass to take a look at it
in light of his express concern about the growing plight of West Virginia
tobacco farmers.

"We're not helping the farmers who are giving up growing tobacco," Douglass
said. "We're looking at any and every option to put additional money in
their pockets."

Plainly, nothing so far but questions are going into the pockets of
farmers. Yet advocates of industrial hemp maintain that answers abound on
the prospects of growth, manufacturing and sales of hemp products ranging
from rope to furniture to beauty aids in the global marketplace.

Facemyer seeks to legalize the growth of hemp, which is the first major
hurdle, because state and federal laws forbid the growing of industrial
hemp. It's a cousin to marijuana, but has less than 1 percent of the
chemical in marijuana that can intoxicate users, researchers say.

Despite the legalization problem, nearly 30 states have either put
industrial hemp laws on the books or are trying like West Virginia,
reported the Christian Science Monitor.

Nonetheless, such laws come hard, if at all, as shown by the pondering and
vacillation of West Virginia lawmakers of state officials. Hemp gets a bad
rap from marijuana, although marijuana rates as the chief cash crop in the
Mountain State and other parts of Appalachia.

Last year, Gov. George Ryan of Illinois vetoed an industrial hemp bill.

So did Gov. Jane Hull of Arizona, according to Hemp News, published by the
Hemp Industries Association.

Ryan has put a hold on the death penalty in Illinois, also on industrial
hemp, but surely for different reasons. Still, the bad rap against hemp
hangs on like a millstone made of fear, superstition and politics.

Deborah Angel of Charlton Heights insists that there's a world of
difference in the looks and likes of hemp.

She says that marijuana grown nearby "could become pollinated by the hemp
and then the good marijuana would be ruined."

A slogan could be, Angel suggests, "Grow hemp on them bald mountains."

Researchers say hemp is easy to grow, as seen in wild hemp along stretches
of the Potomac River and other areas of the Mountain State.

Retired engineer Allan Tweddie of Charleston told the Agriculture Committee
that industrial hemp has enormous business potential.

Members of Concerned Citizens of Roane, Calhoun & Gilmer Counties expressed
support for Facemyer's bill.

They hope other lawmakers and citizens will get behind the drive for
industrial hemp to help put money in the pockets of farmers and the pockets
of workers with new jobs.

Peeks is a former Gazette business/labor editor.