Pubdate: Sun, 03 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
Author: Kenneth Hart

HEMP'S TIME HAS ARRIVED

I remember when the late Lexington attorney Gatewood Galbraith made 
his first run for statewide office in 1983. He ran for agriculture 
commissioner on a platform based largely on legalizing the growing of 
industrial hemp in the commonwealth. Not surprisingly, he was 
dismissed as a kook and placed dead last in a four-candidate 
Democratic primary with only 12 percent of the vote.

The fact that Kentucky's current agriculture, James Comer, is touting 
the exact same idea 30 years later as a potential savior of the 
state's farm economy - and is being taken quite seriously - proves 
Galbraith was a true visionary and a man ahead of his time.

The fact is, hemp-growing never should have been outlawed in the 
first place. Galbraith - who died a year ago last month and whom I 
had the pleasure of interviewing several times when he was running 
for office - once told me it was no coincidence the laws against it 
went into effect the same year nylon was patented. I've never been 
much of a conspiracy buff, but something about that statement always 
stuck with me.

Hemp is one of the most useful substances on Earth. It can be used to 
make a wide array of products, from fuels to clothing to paper. 
Comer, who recently reactivated the long-dormant Kentucky Hemp 
Commission, calls it "a sustainable, greener crop," and he's 100 
percent correct. Kentucky's soil and climate are perfectly suited to 
growing it, too.

So why is hemp-growing illegal? Because hemp plants are similar in 
appearance to marijuana plants. Hemp and marijuana are biological 
cousins, even though hemp contains only trace amounts of THC, the 
chemical in pot that produces the effects, or "high," in the user.

In other words, the only way you're going to catch a buzz from hemp 
is by smoking a whole bale of that cheese.

Of course, the major obstacle to hemp being a viable cash crop for 
Kentucky is that growing it is against federal law. However, Sen. 
Rand Paul and Sen. John Yarmuth, who don't agree on much else 
politically, have both said they will lobby the Obama administration 
to give the commonwealth a waiver that would allow the plant to be 
grown here if the state legislature passes a bill setting up regulations.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, law enforcement isn't keen on the whole idea.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer told the commission 
last week that legalizing hemp would create problems for police 
because "it is impossible to distinguish between hemp and marijuana 
with the naked eye," and marijuana could be grown among hemp plants, 
making them undetectable to law enforcement.

Of course, I think the ideal solution to that conundrum would be to 
legalize the growing of both hemp and marijuana, thus relieving the 
KSP and other police agencies of their mandate to waste their 
precious time and resources ferreting out plants of any kind. But, I digress.

Brewer also argued that hemp legalization had the potential to be 
costly for law enforcement because people charged with marijuana 
possession could claim they had hemp and only expensive chemical 
testing would be able to determine the difference.

That seems a bit farfetched to me. Remember, hemp isn't psychoactive, 
so what possible use would any self-respecting pot user have for it, 
especially seeing as how marijuana, while illegal, is readily and 
easily obtainable? Doesn't that kind of cut the legs out from under 
that defense?

And, with all due respect to Brewer and the KSP, I think Hemp 
Commission member Jim Higdon had it right when he said the the agency 
has a pretty stong motive for opposing hemp legalization - mainly, 
the federal dollars the agency receives for marijuana eradication.

The loss of burley tobacco as a cash crop was devastating to 
Kentucky, and to our area. The sight of tobacco fields stretching 
nearly end to end along rural highways is but a distant memory.

Seeing those one day replaced by fields of hemp would be a gorgeous 
sight - one that would no doubt have Gatewood Galbraith, wherever he 
is, beaming and saying "I told you so."
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