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THE LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL
Louisville, Kentucky
July 4, 1998 Business Section
GROWING HEMP WOULD CREATE JOBS, REPORT SAYS UK
Study offers new support for legalizing crop By Tim Whitmire Associated Press LEXINGTON, Ky. - Legalizing hemp - the controversial, non-potent cousin of marijuana - could give Kentucky agriculture a financial high, according to a University of Kentucky report released yesterday. The report by the school's Center for Business and Economic Research said cultivating and processing hemp in Kentucky could the state up to 771 new jobs and $17.6 million in worker earnings in the current market. The study was released before an audience of hemp supporters at a news conference at the estate of early 19th-century U.S. Sen. Henry Clay. In his time, Clay was one of Kentucky's leading hemp cultivators. Mark Berger, a UK economics professor and one of the study's authors, said in an interview before the study's release that hemp - which can be used in paper products and textiles, as a fiberglass substitute and as an oil in food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals- is a viable crop. "We're optimistic about the returns that can be earned from growing hemp," he said. " It looks to us as though you can earn some returns on growing hemp that are below tobacco but above other crops."
Hemp's opponents, particularly in law enforcement, " have always contended that it's not economical," said Joe Hickey, executive director of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperation Association. "This report pretty much puts that to rest." According to the study, profits per acre from hemp cultivation could range from $220 for hemp grown for grain or straw production to $600 for raising certified seed for planting by other hemp growers. That's less than the $1,500 per acre return on burley tobacco or the $1,000-per acre profits from dark fire-cured tobacco, but higher than returns on soybeans, hay, corn, wheat and grain sorghum, the report says. That could be good news for Kentucky farmers concerned about tobacco's future. Disease-resistant hemp is also viewed as a useful rotation crop among grains and vegetables. Hemp and marijuana are both varieties of the same plant. But hemp typically contains less than 1 percent of THC, the ingredient that makes pot smokers high. Government officials fear hemp farming could mask the growing of marijuana. The national drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, has been adamantly opposed to legalizing hemp.
In a lawsuit pending in federal court of Lexington, Hickey's group and several would-be hemp farmers contend that federal law enforcement agencies and the Drug Enforcement Administration have overstepped their bounds in outlawing industrial hemp cultivation. Mark Farrow, the deputy commissioner and general counsel of the state Department of Agriculture, said his agency would have no comment on the UK report until it had a chance to read it. Hemp was an important crop in Kentucky throughout the 19th century and early in this century, but was banned in 1937 when the federal government outlawed marijuana. Berger cautioned that, given the current demand for hemp products, legalization of hemp is not a magic solution for farmers looking to get out of growing tobacco. "The size of the market that exists right now is nowhere near the size of the market for tobacco," he said. "Some farmers might just grow hemp (only), but it wouldn't be a lot of farmers." Still, Hickey believes hemp's future is wide open. "The opportunities go nowhere but up from here," he said, comparing industrial hemp to the underdeveloped plastics industry of the 1920's and 30's. "What I want people to understand is that this report is as conservative a report that could be written," he said. "Being this conservative, it can't be shot down."
The authors of the report seem to agree, writing that "technologies are under development, that may allow industrial hemp products to compete in bulk commodity markets. The economic impacts that would occur if these technologies were found to be commercially feasible would be substantially greater those identified in this report." Berger said the study's objectivity was not affected by having its $23,000 cost paid by a pro-hemp organization. "The reason that they come to the university is that they can get the most objective study that is possible," he said. "We're not a consulting firm that is beholden to them. They pay for the study, but the editorial content of the study is in our hands."