Pubdate: Fri, 01 Feb 2013
Source: Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)
Copyright: 2013 The Daily Independent, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.dailyindependent.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1573
Page: A1

MCCONNELL SUPPORTS HEMP

Legalization Could Benefit Farmers, Produce Jobs

LOUISVILLE (AP) Efforts to re-establish industrial hemp in the state 
where it once flourished won support Thursday from U.S. Senate 
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said its legalization would 
benefit farmers and produce jobs to convert the plants into products.

Hemp supporters trumpeted the timely thumbs-up from Kentucky's most 
powerful Republican. It comes amid a lobbying campaign by hemp 
backers and detractors before state lawmakers resume their regular 
2013 session next week in Frankfort.

"I am convinced that allowing its production will be a positive 
development for Kentucky's farm families and economy," McConnell said 
in a statement. "The utilization of hemp to produce everything from 
clothing to paper is real and if there is a capacity to center a new 
domestic industry in Kentucky that will create jobs in these 
difficult economic times, that sounds like a good thing to me."

The Kentucky Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to review 
legislation Feb. 11 to strictly regulate industrial hemp production 
in the Bluegrass state if the federal government lifts its 
decades-long ban on the crop.

A spokesman for McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, said he 
supports a "federal solution" to re-establish hemp and is discussing 
the best strategy with fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of 
Kentucky and others.

Paul has pushed for federal legislation to lift restrictions on hemp. 
Another option is to seek a federal waiver allowing Kentucky to grow 
the crop. McConnell said he took his prohemp stand after discussions 
with Paul and state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who has 
championed the cause and revived a hemp commission.

Comer, a Republican, said Thursday that McConnell's support "adds 
immeasurable strength" to the campaign.

Kentucky once was a leading producer of industrial hemp, a tall, 
leafy plant that thrived in the state's climate and soils. During 
World War II, the U.S. government encouraged farmers to grow hemp for 
the war effort because other industrial fibers were in short supply.

But the crop hasn't been grown in the U.S. for decades, since the 
federal government moved to classify hemp as a controlled substance 
related to marijuana. Hemp and marijuana are the same species, 
cannabis sativa, but are genetically distinct. Hemp has a negligible 
content of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.

Hemp can be turned into paper, clothing, food, biofuels, auto parts, 
lotions and other products. U.S. retail sales of hemp products 
exceeded $400 million last year, according to industry estimates. At 
least 30 countries produce hemp commercially, and most of the hemp 
imported into the U.S. is grown in China, Canada and Europe.

Hemp supporters in Kentucky see an opportunity to make the state a 
hub for production and processing, if the state acts quickly.

But the campaign to reintroduce hemp has drawn opposition from some 
law enforcement groups, led by Kentucky State Police.

State police Commissioner Rodney Brewer attended a hemp commission 
meeting late last year, and said he was concerned that law 
enforcement would have a hard time distinguishing between hemp and marijuana.

McConnell said Thursday that he was assured by Comer that the 
agriculture department would pursue production "in a way that does 
not compromise Kentucky law enforcement's marijuana eradication 
efforts or in any way promote illegal drug use."

But opponents worry that marijuana growers would use hemp fields to 
conceal pot plants.

"It would be very enticing for someone to obtain a license to grow 
hemp, then divert a small part of their fields to growing illegal 
marijuana," Jere Hopson, director of the South Central Kentucky Drug 
Task Force, said this week. "Law enforcement wouldn't be able to tell 
the difference without testing, and how would you even know which 
plants to test?"

Hemp supporters counter that marijuana growers don't want their 
plants anywhere near hemp fields because cross-pollination means less potency.

Another hemp critic, Clay County Sheriff Kevin Johnson, questions the 
demand for hemp.

"If there was a huge market for hemp, there would be lobbyists 
sitting in Washington trying to get this legalized on a national 
level," he said.

State Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Paul Hornback, 
R-Shelbyville, said his bill to regulate hemp production has 
safeguards to make sure "it's run right." Under his bill, the state 
agriculture department would license growers and production would be 
subject to inspection. Growers would undergo criminal background 
checks and give GPS coordinates for their fields.

Comer has said hemp's reintroduction in Kentucky hinges on federal 
approval of the crop.

Hornback has scheduled a hearing on his bill for Feb. 11 and said he 
intends to call for a committee vote on the measure then.

Comer said U.S. Reps. John Yarmuth and Thomas Massie of Kentucky are 
expected to testify for measure, along with Paul.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom