KY Hemp Debate--DEA no show

LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER Lexington, Kentucky August 13, 1998

Hemp debate gets bumper crop of attention

By Andy Mead HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

LOUISVILLE -- The actor wore casual hemp clothing. He said there is no good reason hemp farming should not be allowed in Kentucky, a state where it once flourished.

The retired federal drug agent wore a conservative dark suit with suspenders.

He spoke of "hemp-slash-marijuana," which he said is a bad idea because drug enforcement agents wouldn't be able to distinguish the plant that doesn't produce a high from the one that does.

The only hemp grower in the room said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had strolled through his fields in Ontario and remarked that it looked very different from marijuana.

So went yesterday's lopsided debate on the merits of industrial hemp before the Louisville Forum, a group of businesspeople who gather monthly to hear discussions on controversial subjects.

The hemp debate brought extra helpings of controversy, plus a mini-media horde attracted by the star power of actor Woody Harrelson.

The debate also had promised the first debate ever between Kentucky hemp advocates and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

But a forum organizer said Rick Sanders, the resident agent in charge of the DEA's Kentucky office, pulled out at the last minute without offering an explanation. Sanders did not return telephone calls from the Herald-Leader.

His absence left David Haight, a retired DEA agent, to face the friends of hemp.

Those people included Andy Graves, a Lexington farmer who is president of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association.

Graves' father, Jake Graves, who turned 73 yesterday, grew hemp during World War II. The younger Graves pointed out that hemp is grown in 29 countries, but that his is the first of seven generations of his family that is not allowed to grow it.

"Fifty-six years of brainwashing the public that this crop is a demon is insane," he said.

Andy Graves also said a Monday article in The Courier-Journal that reported a rift between him and Harrelson was "fabricated." An Associated Press version of that article appeared in Tuesday's Herald-Leader.

He praised Harrelson as someone who gave time and money for a cause he believes in.

Harrelson said he became interested in hemp as a way to lessen dependence on cutting trees to make paper and on using petroleum to make plastic. He ignored a question from the audience about whether he also favors legalization of marijuana.

Haight, the retired DEA agent, said some who support hemp ñ present company excluded, he said -- really want to grow marijuana.

But Jean Laprise, grower of Canada's largest hemp crop, said a farmer growing hemp under strict government regulation would be foolish to slip marijuana into the fields. He added that marijuana would be of low quality if it cross-pollinated with hemp.

"I know there's talk of marijuana production going up significantly because we have industrial hemp. I think that's a crock," Laprise said.

"If anybody in this room thinks for a minute that those who want marijuana in this country are not getting an adequate supply, they need to get their head examined."