BY JOHN ED PEARCE HERALD-LEADER COLUMNIST

In a visit to a Simpsonville Elementary School, actor Woody Harrelson advocated the growing of commercial hemp in Kentucky. Naturally, this outraged all right-thinking, God-fearing, law-abiding, flag-waving, sin-hating citizens and officials. School officials shuddered. Deputy Sheriff Audrey Yeager was "very, very upset, " said State Trooper Jimmy Richardson, who flogs drugs for the state, said that the incident sent children a confusing message. If kiddie morals are to be protected, Harrelson must be, at the very least, flogged on the public square, drummed from the corps, disgraced in the eyes of God and man, branded with a scarlet "M" (for marijuana) and imprisoned for life without hope of parole. This may seem extreme, but we cannot allow common sense or fact to impede our crusade against the loathsome joint. The fact is that while some hemp yields smokable marijuana, some does not, and it is the non-marijuana variety that Harrelson is advocating. It is, as he and many others have argued, an easily-cultivated, versatile plant, once grown profitably in Kentucky and a potential alternative to our threatened tobacco. But we must not confuse our children by discussing in the same breath tobacco, which last year contributed to 400,000 deaths and which we will defend to the death, and hemp, which killed no one, and must be kept illegal in all its forms. We must protect our children against the ravages of hemp, trusting that they are too dumb to learn that one variety yields pot, while another can be used to produce cloth, rope and other usable fabrics. It is somewhat like protecting children against popcorn because other corn varieties can be used to make booze. Everyone admits we are losing the so-called drug war, at terrific cost. Perhaps we could do better if we employed reason instead of emotion for a change.