News (Media Awareness Project) - KY Farmers trumpeting hemp's merits |
| Title: | KY Farmers trumpeting hemp's merits |
| Published On: | 1997-08-02 |
| Source: | THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-08 13:41:29 |
GROWING SUPPORT
Tobacco farmers, others call hemp beneficial, but DEA calls it marijuana
Farmers among those trumpeting merits of hemp
(Picture of Andy Graves in a tobacco field)
By Thomas G. Watts
Staff Writer
WINCHESTER, Ky. Andy Graves looks at the tobacco plants his
family has grown for six generations and hopes for an alternative.
In her tobacco fields a few miles away, Gale Glenn would like another
rotation crop to help maintain the richness of her soil in the heart of
Kentuckys Blue Grass country.
At a time when many tobacco farmers are increasingly concerned about the
future of their crop amid the growing antismoking sentiment, these two
farmers think they may have part of the answer.
They might need an act of Congress to grow it, however.
Mr. Graves and Ms. Glenn are advocates of industrial hemp, a form of
Cannabis sativa, or marijuana, that has been outlawed in the United States
since 1937.
Im not interested in giving up the tobacco unless I have to, said Ms.
Glenn. What we are interested in is another cash crop.
And theres a great sense of urgency among the people to provide another
cash crop. Its like were on a roll now.
An increasing number of people, including actor Woody Harrelson, and
organizations have been pushing industrial hemp in recent years. Hemp
councils and trade groups market their products, which are legal in the
United States. And several states have considered legislation to permit
farmers to grow it.
Hemps fibers are transformed into everything from rope to paper to
highfashion clothing. Its oils are considered a superior lubricant. Other
byproducts could replace petroleum as the basis for plastics, its supporters
say.
One industrial group says hemp product sales in the United States have grown
from about $5 million in the early 1990s to about $200 million this year.
Anticipated sales for the turn of the century are $600 million.
A recent cover of Hemp Times magazine featured Merle Haggard plucking at his
guitar and wearing a hemp shirt. People shouldnt be afraid of something as
mildmannered as hemp, he says.
The primary thing that hemp isnt good for is smoking.
Hemp supporters say the industrial variety contains less than 1 percent of
the psychoactive drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), compared with 5 to 20
percent contained in the plants that are grown to provide the illicit high.
DEA roadblock
Nonetheless, the most serious roadblock to the legalization of hemp is the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which has so far proved implacable. DEA
officials said marijuana by any other name is still marijuana. It is illegal
to grow the plant or possess parts that contain THC.
Gwen Phillips, a spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed last week that the
DEA does not differentiate between strains of the plant that produce
different levels of the highcausing THC.
Correct, she said. No difference.
Ms. Phillips noted that a provision in federal law allows people to grow
hemp for industrial purposes but only after they obtain a license from the
DEA and show that its production would be in the public interest.
The agencys policy statement on hemp read, however, that the DEA has not
in the past granted any registrations for the cultivation of marijuana for
industrial purposes.
The cultivation of the marijuana plant exclusively for commercial,
industrial purposes has many associated risks relating to diversion into the
illicit drug traffic, the statement continued.
During legislative hearings in the states where hemp legalization has been
sought, the DEA and other law enforcement officials frequently have testified
that it would be difficult for officers to tell the difference between
industrial hemp and drugrich marijuana. They also have accused hemp
advocates of being naive or sympathetic to drug interests, and of chipping
away at drug laws so that marijuana would eventually be legalized.
Hemp adherents disagree.
Plants grown for industrial hemp, they said, are planted within inches of
one another and grow more than 10 feet tall with a small clump of leaves at
the top. The valuable part of the plant is the stalk, with its long fibers,
inner cellulose and other materials. Drugladen plants are much shorter and
clumped with buds that contain most of the THC.
Erwin Bud Sholts, director of agricultural development and diversification
for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, said authorities need to get
past the paranoia and emotionalism of the drug and learn more about the
differences between the Cannabis strains.
Mr. Sholts, chairman of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, said
that besides the heights and leaf structures, other differences exist. You
even harvest it (industrial hemp) before the THC develops, before it
flowers, he said.
Ms. Glenn, the wife of a physician, said she was insulted that anyone would
suggest that she would support the illicit drug industry even
inadvertently.
Im a grandmother, she said. I dont want that stuff around the kids.
Unwanted support
She and others in the hemp movement said they have tried to ignore the gold
earring crowd that is working for the legalization of THCladen marijuana,
but they acknowledge that group often joins them at hearings and other
hempsupport gatherings.
Theres not much that we can do about them, Ms. Glenn said. We dont
associate with them.
She and Mr. Graves, the sixth generation tobacco farmer, are more interested
in support from the influential American Farm Bureau and agricultural
researchers, who have supported industrial hemp for its multiple uses.
And, they said, environmentalists like hemp because it requires virtually no
pesticides or herbicides unlike tobacco, corn and many other crops.
No one has calculated the environmental costs that it would save, said Mr.
Graves, whose father grew hemp in the years before it was outlawed and again
during World War II, when it was needed for the war effort.
The value of the crop exceeds the problems, he said.
Hemps real value has yet to be determined. But the market is growing as new
uses are developed.
Candy Penn, a spokeswoman for the Hemp Industries Council in California,
said there were 94 business members of the council in 1994 and 188 now.
The more that people understand this, she said of hemp, the more they are
signing on to use it.
Not a panacea
Even if the use of industrial hemp is ultimately permitted in this country
as it has been under controlled conditions in Britain, Canada and other
nations its supporters dont see it as a panaceas for American
agriculture.
Tobacco farmers such as Mr. Graves see it as a good rotational crop because
hemps root system helps aerate the soil and provides natural nutrients that
tobacco sucks away.
But he and Mr. Sholts dont expect tobacco farmers to voluntarily abandon
their primary crop unless they are forced to by the government or the
marketplace. Mr. Graves said he grosses about $4,000 an acre from tobacco, a
crop that carries extensive costs in labor, pesticides and herbicides.
At 3,000 acres, Mr. Graves operation is at the large end of the tobacco farm
scale. Smaller farmers throughout the South favor tobacco because they can
see a high return often by using family labor to replace the crews that
farmers such as Mr. Graves hires.
By contrast, crops such as corn return about 10 percent of tobaccos value.
It is unclear what hemp would bring.
Those of us who are versed in the subject have never said it would rival
tobacco, Mr. Graves said. But the point of it is that it doesnt take any
labor.
He and Mr. Sholts believe that the market for hemp will continue to expand
and drive up the price.
Its been 60 years since anyone looked at it technologically, Mr. Graves
said. Theres no telling what it could be used for now.
Who the hell knows what prices it will bring eventually?
SIDE BAR Facts about hemp
1. The oldest known relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric that
dates to about 8,000 B.C.
2. The American flag sewn by Betsy Ross was made of hemp, as were the first
drafts of the Declaration of Independence.
3. Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, and the plant
was recognized as legal tender in the nations early years. It still is used
in the currency of Canada and other nations.
4. Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber and is used in every grade of
paper. The United States imports 85 percent of the paper pulp it uses.
5. Rembrandt and Van Gogh both painted on hemp canvases, and the first pair
of Levis jeans was made of hemp.
6. Hemp seed was once fed to the canaries that miners carried to warn them of
poison fumes because the seeds were so high in oil that they made the birds
sing louder.
Tobacco farmers, others call hemp beneficial, but DEA calls it marijuana
Farmers among those trumpeting merits of hemp
(Picture of Andy Graves in a tobacco field)
By Thomas G. Watts
Staff Writer
WINCHESTER, Ky. Andy Graves looks at the tobacco plants his
family has grown for six generations and hopes for an alternative.
In her tobacco fields a few miles away, Gale Glenn would like another
rotation crop to help maintain the richness of her soil in the heart of
Kentuckys Blue Grass country.
At a time when many tobacco farmers are increasingly concerned about the
future of their crop amid the growing antismoking sentiment, these two
farmers think they may have part of the answer.
They might need an act of Congress to grow it, however.
Mr. Graves and Ms. Glenn are advocates of industrial hemp, a form of
Cannabis sativa, or marijuana, that has been outlawed in the United States
since 1937.
Im not interested in giving up the tobacco unless I have to, said Ms.
Glenn. What we are interested in is another cash crop.
And theres a great sense of urgency among the people to provide another
cash crop. Its like were on a roll now.
An increasing number of people, including actor Woody Harrelson, and
organizations have been pushing industrial hemp in recent years. Hemp
councils and trade groups market their products, which are legal in the
United States. And several states have considered legislation to permit
farmers to grow it.
Hemps fibers are transformed into everything from rope to paper to
highfashion clothing. Its oils are considered a superior lubricant. Other
byproducts could replace petroleum as the basis for plastics, its supporters
say.
One industrial group says hemp product sales in the United States have grown
from about $5 million in the early 1990s to about $200 million this year.
Anticipated sales for the turn of the century are $600 million.
A recent cover of Hemp Times magazine featured Merle Haggard plucking at his
guitar and wearing a hemp shirt. People shouldnt be afraid of something as
mildmannered as hemp, he says.
The primary thing that hemp isnt good for is smoking.
Hemp supporters say the industrial variety contains less than 1 percent of
the psychoactive drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), compared with 5 to 20
percent contained in the plants that are grown to provide the illicit high.
DEA roadblock
Nonetheless, the most serious roadblock to the legalization of hemp is the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which has so far proved implacable. DEA
officials said marijuana by any other name is still marijuana. It is illegal
to grow the plant or possess parts that contain THC.
Gwen Phillips, a spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed last week that the
DEA does not differentiate between strains of the plant that produce
different levels of the highcausing THC.
Correct, she said. No difference.
Ms. Phillips noted that a provision in federal law allows people to grow
hemp for industrial purposes but only after they obtain a license from the
DEA and show that its production would be in the public interest.
The agencys policy statement on hemp read, however, that the DEA has not
in the past granted any registrations for the cultivation of marijuana for
industrial purposes.
The cultivation of the marijuana plant exclusively for commercial,
industrial purposes has many associated risks relating to diversion into the
illicit drug traffic, the statement continued.
During legislative hearings in the states where hemp legalization has been
sought, the DEA and other law enforcement officials frequently have testified
that it would be difficult for officers to tell the difference between
industrial hemp and drugrich marijuana. They also have accused hemp
advocates of being naive or sympathetic to drug interests, and of chipping
away at drug laws so that marijuana would eventually be legalized.
Hemp adherents disagree.
Plants grown for industrial hemp, they said, are planted within inches of
one another and grow more than 10 feet tall with a small clump of leaves at
the top. The valuable part of the plant is the stalk, with its long fibers,
inner cellulose and other materials. Drugladen plants are much shorter and
clumped with buds that contain most of the THC.
Erwin Bud Sholts, director of agricultural development and diversification
for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, said authorities need to get
past the paranoia and emotionalism of the drug and learn more about the
differences between the Cannabis strains.
Mr. Sholts, chairman of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, said
that besides the heights and leaf structures, other differences exist. You
even harvest it (industrial hemp) before the THC develops, before it
flowers, he said.
Ms. Glenn, the wife of a physician, said she was insulted that anyone would
suggest that she would support the illicit drug industry even
inadvertently.
Im a grandmother, she said. I dont want that stuff around the kids.
Unwanted support
She and others in the hemp movement said they have tried to ignore the gold
earring crowd that is working for the legalization of THCladen marijuana,
but they acknowledge that group often joins them at hearings and other
hempsupport gatherings.
Theres not much that we can do about them, Ms. Glenn said. We dont
associate with them.
She and Mr. Graves, the sixth generation tobacco farmer, are more interested
in support from the influential American Farm Bureau and agricultural
researchers, who have supported industrial hemp for its multiple uses.
And, they said, environmentalists like hemp because it requires virtually no
pesticides or herbicides unlike tobacco, corn and many other crops.
No one has calculated the environmental costs that it would save, said Mr.
Graves, whose father grew hemp in the years before it was outlawed and again
during World War II, when it was needed for the war effort.
The value of the crop exceeds the problems, he said.
Hemps real value has yet to be determined. But the market is growing as new
uses are developed.
Candy Penn, a spokeswoman for the Hemp Industries Council in California,
said there were 94 business members of the council in 1994 and 188 now.
The more that people understand this, she said of hemp, the more they are
signing on to use it.
Not a panacea
Even if the use of industrial hemp is ultimately permitted in this country
as it has been under controlled conditions in Britain, Canada and other
nations its supporters dont see it as a panaceas for American
agriculture.
Tobacco farmers such as Mr. Graves see it as a good rotational crop because
hemps root system helps aerate the soil and provides natural nutrients that
tobacco sucks away.
But he and Mr. Sholts dont expect tobacco farmers to voluntarily abandon
their primary crop unless they are forced to by the government or the
marketplace. Mr. Graves said he grosses about $4,000 an acre from tobacco, a
crop that carries extensive costs in labor, pesticides and herbicides.
At 3,000 acres, Mr. Graves operation is at the large end of the tobacco farm
scale. Smaller farmers throughout the South favor tobacco because they can
see a high return often by using family labor to replace the crews that
farmers such as Mr. Graves hires.
By contrast, crops such as corn return about 10 percent of tobaccos value.
It is unclear what hemp would bring.
Those of us who are versed in the subject have never said it would rival
tobacco, Mr. Graves said. But the point of it is that it doesnt take any
labor.
He and Mr. Sholts believe that the market for hemp will continue to expand
and drive up the price.
Its been 60 years since anyone looked at it technologically, Mr. Graves
said. Theres no telling what it could be used for now.
Who the hell knows what prices it will bring eventually?
SIDE BAR Facts about hemp
1. The oldest known relic of human industry is a bit of hemp fabric that
dates to about 8,000 B.C.
2. The American flag sewn by Betsy Ross was made of hemp, as were the first
drafts of the Declaration of Independence.
3. Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, and the plant
was recognized as legal tender in the nations early years. It still is used
in the currency of Canada and other nations.
4. Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber and is used in every grade of
paper. The United States imports 85 percent of the paper pulp it uses.
5. Rembrandt and Van Gogh both painted on hemp canvases, and the first pair
of Levis jeans was made of hemp.
6. Hemp seed was once fed to the canaries that miners carried to warn them of
poison fumes because the seeds were so high in oil that they made the birds
sing louder.
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