TIMBER INDUSTRY OPPOSES HEMP

Harry D. Fisher's letter (Nov. 23) pointed out the main forces behind
marijuana prohibition -- privatized prisons, police agencies, drug testing
companies -- but missed a key player: the timber industry.

The male marijuana plant, also called "hemp," provides a strong fiber that
can be made into a number of products, including paper. One acre of hemp
will produce as much paper as four acres of trees. Hemp grows at lightning
speed when compared with trees and does not displace native animals when it
is harvested.

Unfortunately, marijuana prohibition has swallowed up hemp with it, denying
farmers a lucrative and environmentally sound business.

If timber companies will spend $3.5 million to shoot down a measure that
would have banned clear-cutting ("Greenbacks take stand for timber
industry," Nov. 23), imagine how much they would spend to keep industrial
hemp illegal.

THOMAS KLEIN

Northeast Portland