EDITORIAL PAGE
COMMENTARY

State should clear smoke away from hemp issue

By John Ed Pearce
HeraldLeader Columnist

Well, here we are again, facing the joys of August hurricanes,
flooding, spinoff tornadoes and heat that only dogs and small boys can
enjoy..........
The farmers who will be bring their crops to market are another
case, and one the state can do something about if we can all for a moment
put aside folklore and foolishness and think hemp.
That’s right: hemp, the plant that actor Woody Harrelson tried to
explain to Shelbyville school children, only to have addled mothers swarm
down to save their kiddies from the threat of hell’s weed.
State government and its agencies have done nothing to promote
cultivation of this possibly valuable crop, despite pleas from prominent
farmers and businessmen. Kentuckians in general seem to regard hemp as a
product of evil because it is in the family of plants that include
marijuana, though hemp is not and has never been used for smoking. This
attitude is akin to firing a man because his cousin robbed a liquor
store, or condemning the cultivation of corn because kids smoke corn silks.
Throughout the years before the ‘20s and the development of synthetic
fibers such as nylon, hemp was a mainstay of Kentucky farms, and Kentucky
was a leader in its production. It was the chief component of many marine
stores, including rope and mooring lines, collision mats and rough cloth.
In other places, it is still being made into attractive cloth,
matting and various types of domestic coverings. But not in Kentucky,
where we fear, apparently, that some kid may try to smoke it.
This does not imply that the tobacco farmer is on the path of the
dodo and dinosaur. Americans still smoke, as do millions of overseas
customers. But the weed is in growing disrepute, and farmers are already
looking for alternative or subsidiary crops. Considering the importance
of tobacco and its producers to the state economy, we can’t continue to
ignore the facts and probable future of the market.
It makes little sense to continue urging farm diversification
alternative crops, truck gardening, regional packing and processing
plants, all of which merit consideration while shunning a crop that
might, and I emphasize the word might, prove to be a lifesaving
substitute or support crop.
Let’s hope that we have not become so mesmerized by the myths of
our vaunted drug crusade that we cannot face the truth. (END)