THE LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER Lexington, Kentucky February 23, 2001

Legalization of industrial hemp takes a major step

By John Cheves

FRANKFORT - Industrial hemp is just a few steps away from returning to
Kentucky, the state that once led the nation in hemp production.

The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Yesterday
approved House Bill 100, which would allow state universities to grow and
study industrial hemp under closely regulated conditions. The bill also
would establish a commission to study the agricultural value of hemp as a
crop at a time when tobacco revenues are dwindling.

The bill now goes to the full Senate, which appears receptive to it, and
then if the Senate and House agree on the same version to Gov. Paul Patton.
The House passed the bill on Feb. 14.

A similar version of the bill died last year for lack of action in the Senate.

Critics of industrial hemp worry because of its relationship to marijuana,
a cousin plant that contains much more tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the
chemical that gives marijuana its mind-altering qualities when smoked or
ingested.

State and federal narcotics laws after World War II outlawed both
marijuana and hemp; Kentucky law makes no distinction between them.

But this year, the bill's supporters including former Gov. Louie Nunn are
convincing skeptics that the two plants belong to separate subspecies, and
an academic study of hemp won't lead to increased marijuana use.

"I'm getting a good comfort level with this legislation," Sen. Bob Leeper,
R-Paducah, said yesterday.

The Kentucky State Police, which opposes hemp production because it says
legalized hemp could be used to disguise marijuana crops, doesn't object
to academic research, Commissioner Ishmon Burks told the committee.

"We're willing to work with whoever regarding the commission to study it
and to understand it just a little bit more," Burks said. "But I would say
that we stand full and square behind hemp only if there is zero THC."

Last year, Patton opposed the hemp bill, citing the state police's concerns.
If the police now are comfortable with the controlled growth of hemp for
study at a university, so is the governor, a spokesman said.

"Commissioner Burks was speaking for the governor," said Patton
spokesman Mark Pfeiffer.

The Republican-controlled Senate also seems more accepting of the hemp
bill this session, said Rep. Joe Barrows, D-Versailles, one of the sponsors.
The Senate committee yesterday voted 9-1 to send the bill to the full
Senate with a recommendation to approve it. Last year, the same
committee sent the bill forward but refused to endorse it.

Among the "yes" votes on the committee yesterday was Senate Majority
Leader Dan Kelly, R-Springfield, who helps decide which bills are called
for a vote on the Senate floor.

"I don't think they would have gone through this exercise today just for the
heck of it," Barrows said after the vote.

Any university would be eligible to apply to the Council on Postsecondary
Education to study hemp. None has expressed interest yet, Barrows said.

Industrial hemp's supporters consider it a botanical super hero, a
versatile, disease-resistant plant of many uses. Grown in other nations,
including Canada, hemp's stalks, fibers, seeds and oils are used to create
rope, paper, clothing, animal feed, auto parts and a variety of other
products.

In 1998, a University of Kentucky study predicted that Kentucky could reap
hundreds of farm jobs and millions of dollars from hemp, softening the
impact of tobacco's weakened value. (END)