Source: Reuters Pubdate: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 GROUPS ASK U.S. TO ALLOW HEMP FARMING, NOW ILLEGAL WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Clinton administration was asked Monday to allow farmers to grow hemp, a relative of banned marijuana. Petitions were filed with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Agriculture Department for a change in policy, a coalition of farm, business and environmental groups said. The DEA was asked to remove industrial hemp from its list of illegal drugs. The Agriculture Department was asked to create a licensing system for cultivating the crop. Hemp, which has been bred to eliminate virtually all the mind-affecting chemicals in botanically identical marijuana, has excited interest as a fabric for apparel and furnishings, as well as as for its traditional use in rope and canvas. It has a wider color range and a more durable fiber than other natural textiles, proponents say. Some Tobacco Belt farmers also have become interested in hemp as a potentially high-profit alternative to tobacco in view of attempts to curtail smoking. Filing the petitions were the North American Industrial Hemp Council, a trade group for farm and business organizations interested in the crop, and the Resource Conservation Alliance, an environmental group affiliated with consumer advocate Ralph Nader. ``It's time for America to get its head out of the sand. Hemp is not a drug,'' NAIHC head Bud Sholts said in a statement. Law enforcement officials have been reluctant to change regulations for hemp out of fear it would interfere with drug-law enforcement, since hemp looks like marijuana. In January the American Farm Bureau, the largest U.S. farm group, withdrew its support for research into hemp. Delegates cited law-enforcement concerns and said they didn't want to be linked with groups like the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws Now.