LATEST HEMP RESEARCH EFFORTS OFF TO ANOTHER SLOW START

FRANKFORT -- The latest efforts to study the viability of industrial hemp
are off to another slow start, stymied by bureaucratic delays and running
headlong into a federal prohibition.

The Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission met Monday, well after the July 1,
2001 deadline set by the legislation passed earlier this year that created it.

While the University of Kentucky has applied to conduct research on the
agronomy of growing hemp, the Department of Agriculture has not even
created the regulations needed to grant a license for the research. And
even then the Drug Enforcement Administration must be asked for a permit to
conduct the research, which it does not have to grant.

David Sparrow of the agriculture department at UK, said it might be overly
optimistic to think the first test plots might be planted in the spring.
"That's a hard question to answer," Sparrow said.

The delays are frustrating but can be overcome, said Andrew Graves,
chairman of the Hemp Growers Cooperative and a member of the commission.
"No one is to blame. I'm glad we're together now," Graves said.

Kentucky has a long history of growing hemp, including as recently as World
War II, when cultivation of the plant was encouraged as a source of fiber.
Supporters insist the plant is little short of a miracle -- a renewable
source of fuel, fiber and oil.

Skeptics argue there are other, cheaper and more readily available sources
for the same products and there is no demonstrated market except as novelty
items. Critics also question whether industrial hemp production would be
used to mask the growing of marijuana.

The last study of hemp, conducted during Gov. Brereton Jones'
administration, had two meetings. One was an organizational gathering, the
second was to approve a report, which concluded there was no economic
reason to grow hemp, and to disband.

The two plants are virtually identical, except industrial hemp is supposed
to contain only a minuscule amount of tetrahydocannabinol -- THC -- the
drug that gives marijuana its narcotic effect.

Kentucky State Police Col. John Lile said law enforcement concerns about
growing hemp are the same as they have always been -- differentiating it
from marijuana. While supporters say that mature hemp plants can be
recognized as different from a marijuana plant, the differences are subtle.

Gatewood Galbraith, the Lexington lawyer who started his long and
unsuccessful political career on the platform of legalizing marijuana, said
any research will still have to overcome many obstacles. Galbraith said
opposition to hemp comes from huge petrochemical conglomerates,
pharmaceutical companies and the DEA.

"I think the DEA is going to thwart this at every turn," Galbraith said.
Drug enforcement officials have said their position is clear. Federal law
outlaws all forms of the hemp plant. It has thus far issued only one
research permit, to a university in Hawaii.