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Los Angeles Times: The Demonized Seed =20
=20
As a Recreational Drug, Industrial Hemp Packs the Same Wallop as =
Zucchini.=20
So Why Does the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Continue to Deny America =
This=20
Potent Resource? Call It Reefer Madness.
By Lee Green =
=20
Special to The Times
January 18, 2004
On an =
otherwise=20
unremarkable day nearly 30 years ago, in a San Fernando Valley head =
shop, an=20
ordinary man on LSD had an epiphany. The one thing that could save the =
world, it=20
came to him, was hemp.
Thunderbolts come cheap on LSD, but this =
one=20
looked good to Jack Herer even after his head cleared. The world needed =
relief=20
from its addiction to oil and petrochemicals. From deforestation and
malnutrition. From dirty fuels, sooty air, exhausted soils and =
pesticides. The=20
extraordinary hemp plant could solve all those problems. Herer was sure =
of it.=20
Thus began his journey as a heralding prophet.
For 12 years, =
Herer=20
expanded his knowledge of hemp, burrowing deep into U.S. government =
archives and=20
writing about his discoveries in alternative newspapers and magazines. =
He=20
self-published "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," an impassioned rant for =
the=20
utilitarian virtues of cannabis sativa, the ancient species that gives =
us both=20
hemp and marijuana, which are genetically distinct. Experts agree that =
in
contrast to marijuana, cannabis hemp=97or industrial hemp as it is =
often
called=97has no drug characteristics.
Herer's book, quirky but=20
substantive enough to be taken seriously, inspired thousands and became =
an=20
underground classic. The author has issued 16 printings over the years, =
revising=20
and updating his material 11 times. Today, Herer is widely credited with =
launching the modern hemp movement, a persistent campaign by an eclectic =
coalition of environmentalists, legislators, rights activists, farmers,=20
scientists, entrepreneurs and others to end the maligned plant's =
banishment and=20
tap its potential as a natural resource.
Despite the book's =
over-the-top=20
exuberance and occasional leaps of syllogistic fancy=97or more likely =
because of=20
them=97it has sold 665,000 copies in seven languages. Or is it 635,000 =
copies in=20
eight languages? The prophet isn't sure as he pads across the abused =
gray carpet=20
of his two-bedroom Van Nuys apartment, a flower-child domicile to which =
the
benefits of even the most rudimentary housekeeping remain foreign. =
Beard=20
unkempt, hair askew, Herer matches the d=E9cor. "How can they make the =
one thing=20
that can save the world illegal?" he asks, no less astonished by this =
paradox=20
now than he was three decades ago.
Herer's question is =
essentially the=20
same one hemp advocates in the U.S. have been asking with mounting =
consternation=20
for the past decade. They are asking it now with new urgency in response =
to the=20
Drug Enforcement Agency's latest foray against hemp, an attempt since =
2001 to=20
ban all food products containing even a trace of hemp, even though the =
foods are=20
not psychoactive. The California-based Hemp Industries Assn. and seven =
companies=20
that make or sell hemp products won a reprieve for the industry in June, =
when=20
the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the DEA's efforts =
"procedurally=20
invalid." But the matter remains in litigation, and the hemp issue =
continues to=20
confound policymakers.
California's Legislature passed a bill on =
behalf=20
of hemp not long ago that, in its final, watered-down form, could hardly =
have=20
been less ambitious. Assembly Bill 388, approved in 2002 by wide margins =
in both
chambers, merely requested that the University of California assess the
economic opportunities associated with several alternative fiber crops. =
But=20
because one of the crops was cannabis hemp, then-Gov. Gray Davis vetoed =
the=20
measure, leaving California uncharacteristically behind the curve on a=20
progressive issue that many other states and nations have embraced in =
recent=20
years.
If all or even most of the oft-cited claims for hemp are =
true,=20
the substance may know no earthly equal among nontoxic renewable =
resources. If=20
only half the claims are true, hemp's potential as a commercial =
wellspring and a=20
salve to creeping eco-damage is still immense. At worst it is more =
useful and=20
diverse than most agricultural crops. Yet from the 1930s through the =
1980s, many=20
countries, influenced by U.S. policies and persuasion, banished cannabis =
from=20
their farmlands. Not just marijuana, but all cannabis=97the baby, the =
bath water,=20
all of it.
Confronted with declining demand for their tobacco, =
farmers=20
in Kentucky, where hemp was the state's largest cash crop until 1915, =
argue that=20
commercial hemp could help save their farms. California doesn't face =
that=20
particular dilemma but, in theory, hemp agriculture eventually could =
bestow=20
innumerable benefits on the state, from tax revenues to healthier farm =
soils and=20
reductions in forest logging for wood and paper. Environmentally benign =
hemp=20
crops could replace at least some of California's 1 million acres of=20
water-intensive and chemical-laden cotton.
Since taking root in =
the=20
early 1990s, the hemp movement has made great progress around the world. =
Unfenced fields of the tall, cane-like plants flourish in Austria, =
Italy,=20
Portugal, Ireland=97the entire European Union. Great Britain =
reintroduced the crop=20
in 1993. Germany legalized it in 1996. Australia followed suit two years =
later,=20
as did Canada. Among the world's major industrial democracies, only the =
United
States still forbids hemp farming. If an American farmer were to fill a =
field=20
with this drugless crop, the government would consider him a felon. For =
selling=20
his harvest he would be guilty of trafficking and would face a fine of =
as much=20
as $4 million and a prison sentence of 10 years to life. Provided, of =
course, it=20
is his first offense.
This for a crop as harmless as =
rutabaga.
=20
Prejudiced by nearly 70 years of government and media propaganda against =
all=20
things cannabis, most Americans have no idea that hemp crops once =
flourished=20
from Virginia to California. Prized for thousands of years for its =
fiber, the=20
plant rode commerce from Asia to Europe in the first millennium and =
sailed to=20
the New World in the second. American colonists grew it in the early =
1600s. Two=20
centuries later, hemp was the nation's third-largest agricultural =
commodity. The=20
U.S. census of 1850 counted 8,327 hemp plantations, and those were just =
the
largest ones. California farmers cultivated it at least into the =
1930s.
=20
If all this seems hazy to the American mind, it's because cannabis hemp =
slowly=20
vanished from our farms and our cultural memory. The abolition of =
slavery=20
following the Civil War put hemp at a competitive disadvantage because =
its=20
harvest and processing required intensive labor. The industry slowly =
declined to=20
the brink of extinction as cotton captured the fiber market, but by the=20
mid-1930s new machinery could efficiently extract hemp's fibers from its =
stalk,=20
and the plant was poised for economic recovery. The February 1938 issue =
of=20
Popular Mechanics hailed it as the "New Billion-Dollar Crop," while a =
concurrent=20
issue of Mechanical Engineering deemed hemp "The Most Profitable and =
Desirable=20
Crop That Can Be Grown."
The trail grows murkier here, but the =
crucial=20
element of this buried history lies beyond dispute: In 1935, the U.S.=20
government=97in particular the Bureau of Narcotics (part of the Treasury =
Department and a predecessor to the present-day U.S. Drug Enforcement =
Agency)=20
and its chief, Harry J. Anslinger=97embarked on an inflammatory campaign =
to
convince the public of the evils of marijuana.
The Hearst =
newspapers=20
had acquired a taste for sensationalistic headlines and lurid stories =
about=20
Mexicans and "marijuana-crazed Negroes" assaulting, raping and murdering =
whites.=20
It was all nonsense, but Anslinger shamelessly parroted these myths and=20
concocted his own in congressional testimony and in speeches and =
articles,=20
branding marijuana the "worst evil of all." In a 1937 magazine piece =
titled
"Marijuana, the Assassin of Youth," he blamed suicides and "degenerate =
sex=20
attacks" on the drug.
"Marijuana is the unknown quantity among=20
narcotics," he wrote. "No one knows, when he smokes it, whether he will =
become a=20
philosopher, a joyous reveler, a mad insensate, or a murderer." Prior to =
such
calculated misstatements, few Americans had smoked marijuana. Most had =
never=20
even heard of it.
The government's motives for its attack on =
marijuana=20
remain unclear. Researchers have proffered theories ranging from =
collusion with=20
corporations threatened by hemp's commercial potential to moralistic =
fervor and=20
bureaucratic thirst for domain once Prohibition ended in 1933. =
Regardless of=20
motives, the ensuing stigmatization, red tape, state and federal =
controls,=20
punitive taxes and misconceptions about marijuana's nature and its =
relationship=20
to hemp doomed any chance that hemp would be resurrected as an =
agricultural=20
crop. Fewer and fewer farmers were willing to grow it, and manufacturers =
sought=20
other resources for rope, twine, nets, sailcloth, textiles, paint and =
other
fiber and oil products for which hemp is well suited. The government =
briefly=20
reversed course during World War II, launching an aggressive "Hemp for =
Victory"=20
campaign that implored U.S. farmers to grow the crop to alleviate =
wartime=20
materials shortages. But after the war, hemp again faded into =
oblivion.
=20
In 1957, a Wisconsin farmer harvested the last legal commercial hemp =
crop in=20
America. The government's outright prohibition of the crop, a nonissue =
until=20
interest in hemp renewed in the early 1990s, was formalized in 1971 with =
implementation of the Controlled Substances Act, the centerpiece of U.S. =
drug=20
policy.
Today's reawakened market faces an uphill battle in the =
U.S.,=20
not just because source materials can't be grown here but because =
decades of=20
enforced hibernation have left the industry light-years behind in =
technology,=20
infrastructure, research and development, marketing and public =
acceptance. Hemp=20
Industries Assn., a consortium of about 250 importers, manufacturers,=20
wholesalers and retailers, says that in the past decade the North =
American=20
market has gone from virtually nothing to an estimated $200 million. Not =
bad=20
under the circumstances, but still a pittance for a plant that could =
clothe and=20
house us, build and fuel our cars, enhance our diets and keep the front =
gate=20
from squeaking.
Hemp has attracted many passionate advocates =
over the=20
years simply because of its relation to the illegal drug. But a glance =
at hemp's
r=E9sum=E9 makes it clear why a mere vegetable could inspire a devout =
constituency=20
that transcends the counterculture. Hemp's products, its proponents =
insist, are=20
interchangeable with those from timber or petroleum. The fiber volume =
supplied=20
by trees that take 30 years to grow can be harvested from hemp just =
three or=20
four months after the seeds go into the ground=97and on half the land. =
Hemp=20
requires no herbicides, little or no pesticide, and it grows faster than =
almost=20
any other plant: from seed to 10 feet or taller in just a few months. =
Unlike=20
most crops, it actually enriches rather than depletes the soil. As a =
textile it=20
has proven stronger than cotton, warmer than linen, comfortable to wear =
and=20
durable. As a building material, its extraordinarily long fibers test =
stronger=20
than wood or concrete. As a nutrient it contains one of nature's most =
perfectly=20
balanced oils, high in protein, richer in vitamin E than soy and =
possessing all=20
eight essential fatty acids.
But because hemp contains traces of =
the=20
chemical intoxicant known as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the U.S. =
government=20
lists cannabis as a Schedule I drug, a category reserved for the most =
dangerous=20
and medically useless drugs. Methamphetamine, PCP and cocaine don't =
warrant that=20
classification, but hemp does, right alongside heroin and LSD. The word =
hemp=20
doesn't actually appear on the list, but the drug-war establishment,=20
particularly the instrumental DEA, behaves as though it does by =
recognizing no=20
distinction between varieties of cannabis.
The DEA sometimes =
seems bent=20
on fomenting confusion. Two years ago, during his brief tenure as head =
of the=20
agency, Asa Hutchinson stated that "many Americans do not know that hemp =
and=20
marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that hemp cannot be =
produced=20
without producing marijuana." One reason many Americans do not know this =
is
because it's not true. That's like saying beagles and collies are both =
parts of=20
the same dog and that beagles cannot be produced without producing=20
collies.
Unmoved by logic, accepted nomenclature or the =
realities of=20
plant genetics, the DEA insists that all cannabis is marijuana. Does the =
agency=20
also consider industrial hemp grown legally outside the U.S. to be =
marijuana?=20
"Yes, we do," says Frank Sapienza, the agency's chief of drug and =
chemical=20
evaluation. Since more than 30 other countries manage to distinguish =
between=20
marijuana and industrial hemp and allow their farmers to grow hemp, one =
wonders=20
what they know that the U.S. doesn't. "I'm not going to comment on what =
other=20
countries do," Sapienza says.
The DEA argues that the revival of =
hemp=20
farming in the U.S. will somehow increase the availability, use and =
public=20
acceptance of marijuana. Hemp activists dismiss this argument out of =
hand, as=20
does one of their most formidable allies, former CIA Director James R. =
Woolsey.=20
Hailing from the political right, Woolsey vehemently opposes any =
loosening of=20
America's marijuana laws. But in his experience, he says, most people, =
once they=20
become informed about hemp, see no justification for America's =
prohibition=20
against the crop. "They understand that there's not been any increase in =
use of=20
marijuana in, say, Europe or Canada as a result of industrial hemp =
cultivation.=20
It's one of those issues in which there are no real substantive =
arguments on the=20
other side."
Sapienza points out, as DEA officials often do, =
that the=20
agency merely enforces the law. In truth, though, the DEA also =
interprets the
law, creates exemptions to it and makes judgments that determine how =
statutory=20
abstractions translate to on-the-ground realities. A case in point is =
the=20
agency's declaration in late 2001 that all edible hemp =
products=97cereals, health=20
bars, sodas, salad oils and the like, products sold in the U.S. for =
years=97are=20
illegal. Hundreds of retailers were given a few months to get such items =
off=20
their shelves. If a federal court hadn't intervened, a =
multimillion-dollar=20
industry would have been wiped out by a DEA decision to reinterpret =
existing=20
law. For now, edible hemp products remain legal and commercially =
available in=20
the U.S., pending a 9th Circuit court ruling expected sometime this=20
year.
Despite hemp's stigma, state legislatures in recent years =
have
been surprisingly bold in their willingness to address the issue. =
Though Davis=20
vetoed California's 2002 bill requesting research, in 1999 both the =
state=20
Assembly and the California Democratic Party approved unambiguous =
resolutions=20
supporting hemp commercialization. Twelve other states have passed =
similar=20
resolutions or bills. Since 1997, North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, West =
Virginia and Maryland have legalized cultivation, and in 2000, the =
National=20
Conference of State Legislatures passed a resolution urging the federal=20
government to clear the barriers to domestic hemp production. But =
entrenched=20
federal opposition renders all these political machinations meaningless =
beyond=20
symbolic value.
The DEA, which is within the Justice Department, =
justifies its unbending posture on hemp with assertions that legal hemp=20
agriculture would provide camouflage for illegal pot growers. From the =
air or at=20
a distance, the agency says, industrial hemp and marijuana are virtually
indistinguishable.
"The DEA is wrong," says Indiana University=20
professor emeritus Paul Mahlberg, a plant cell biologist who has studied =
cannabis for more than 25 years and is conducting research on 150 =
different=20
strains, both hemp and marijuana. "Hemp plants are tall, 8 to 20 feet. =
Marijuana
plants in the field are shorter." And cultivated hemp grows a slender, =
nearly=20
leafless lower stem, whereas marijuana strains are bred to be "Christmas =
tree-like in appearance," with abundant leaves, glands and flowers in =
which are=20
stored the intoxicating THC.
Marijuana's bushiness requires far =
more=20
space per plant, says John Roulac, a compost expert and owner of the =
Sebastopol,=20
Calif., health-food company Nutiva, which imports sterilized hemp seed =
from
Canada for nutrition bars. From the ground or the air, a hemp crop =
looks=20
significantly denser than a marijuana crop. "In a square yard, you might =
grow=20
one or two marijuana plants, whereas with hemp you might have 100 =
plants,"=20
Roulac says.
The argument about physical appearance should be a=20
nonissue, hemp advocates say, given that the last place a marijuana =
grower would=20
want to locate his drug crop is in or near a hemp field. The consensus =
among
cannabis experts, supported by the logic of plant genetics and field =
studies,=20
is that cross-pollination would sabotage the pot grower's efforts, =
causing his=20
next generation of marijuana to be only half as potent. This genetic =
convenience=20
delights hard-line anti-marijuana types such as Woolsey, the former CIA =
chief.=20
He was skeptical about pro-hemp arguments when he first heard them. "But =
then I=20
got into the science of it a bit, and it was quite clear to me that not =
only is
[hemp cultivation] a good idea, it's a major headache for marijuana =
[growers],"=20
he says with an impish laugh. If it were up to Woolsey, tall, lush =
fields of=20
industrial hemp would be greening America, filling the sky with airborne =
pollen=20
and frustrating marijuana growers everywhere.
The DEA flatly =
rejects the=20
idea that a hemp field would degrade any marijuana in the vicinity. A=20
spokeswoman for the agency recently maintained that "it cannot be said =
with any=20
level of certainty that a cannabis plant of relatively low THC content =
will=20
necessarily reduce the THC content of other plants grown in close=20
proximity."
Hemp may be absurdly intertwined with marijuana, but =
the DEA=20
could ease restrictions on hemp simply by removing marijuana from its =
list of
most dangerous drugs. That may sound radical to a public conditioned to =
believe=20
marijuana is as dangerous as heroin, but Mitch Earleywine, a drug =
addiction=20
expert and associate professor of clinical psychology at USC, doesn't =
think so.=20
In reviewing about 500 marijuana studies for his recent book =
"Understanding=20
Marijuana: A New Look at the Scientific Evidence," Earleywine found =
little or no=20
scientific evidence for any of the most prominent allegations against =
the drug,=20
least of all that it causes violent or aggressive behavior, decreases =
motivation=20
or acts as a gateway to harder drugs. It is addictive, he says, but =
"it's=20
nowhere near the caliber of, say, heroin, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, =
any of
those drugs." Should it be a Schedule I controlled substance? "In all =
honesty,=20
the idea that it has to be scheduled at all might be up for question," =
he=20
says."Americans are just too freaked out about=20
[marijuana]."
One of the most persistent =
charges=20
against the hemp lobby is that it's really just a marijuana movement in=20
disguise.
"Let's not play dumb here," says America's reigning =
drug czar,
John P. Walters of the White House Office of National Drug Control =
Policy. "It=20
is no coincidence that proponents of marijuana have invested a great =
deal of=20
time and money in an effort to expand hemp cultivation. They do this =
not, one=20
presumes, from any special interest in industrial fiber resources, but =
from an=20
earnest belief that more widespread domestic hemp cultivation will make =
the=20
cultivation and distribution of marijuana easier, and that a legal hemp =
industry=20
would frustrate law enforcement efforts against marijuana =
trafficking."
=20
Unquestionably, the hemp and marijuana crowds overlap. Most =
pro-marijuana people=20
think American farmers should be able to grow hemp, and many in the hemp =
movement condemn America's war on drugs and its marijuana laws. But the=20
government's claim that virtually everyone pressing for hemp cultivation =
has a=20
hidden agenda amounts to a sort of psychotropic McCarthyism. Eric =
Steenstra=20
represents a Hungarian hemp textile producer and runs an Internet-based =
advocacy=20
organization called Vote Hemp. "Industrial hemp is a peripheral issue to =
the=20
drug war, but it has gotten caught up in it," he says. "It's =
frustrating. You=20
can't discount this movement as being just a bunch of stoned hippies =
following=20
the Grateful Dead."
Quips former Kentucky Gov. Louie B. Nunn: =
"Should we=20
listen when Canada's Royal Mounted Police report no problems regulating =
hemp, or
are they also working to legalize marijuana?"
Yes, there is =
Woody=20
Harrelson, but the class photo also includes Nunn, Ralph Nader, Hugh =
Downs, Ted=20
Turner and Woolsey, who sits on the board of directors of the North =
American=20
Industrial Hemp Council, an advocacy organization founded in =
1995.
=20
"They've tried to tie us to the marijuana movement all along, and they =
can't get=20
it done," says Erwin "Bud" Sholts, chair of the hemp council. Sholts is =
a=20
69-year-old farmer whose career as an alternative crop researcher for =
the state=20
of Wisconsin convinced him America should consider hemp a valuable =
resource, not=20
an outlaw crop. "If the rest of the world wants to make marijuana legal, =
that's=20
fine, but we're interested in the agriculture crop."
When Jack =
Herer=20
began his quest to emancipate hemp, he just assumed that everyone would =
find the=20
essential facts about the plant's qualities so compelling that the =
battle would=20
be won in six months=97two years, tops. That was 29 years ago.
=
One of the=20
many people intrigued by Herer's book was Dave West, a Midwest plant =
breeder=20
with a doctorate in breeding and genetics. His curiosity about hemp had =
already=20
been piqued by something he witnessed in the mid-1980s as he toiled one=20
sweltering day in a Wisconsin cornfield. A helicopter suddenly appeared =
low in=20
the sky, then hovered over an adjacent field while several men rappelled =
to the=20
ground. It was a drug-enforcement operation going after wild marijuana. =
"Which,=20
as a plant breeder and as somebody who grew up in Wisconsin, I knew was
preposterous," West recalls. "I knew this was feral hemp and nobody =
wanted it,=20
and that's why it was growing as a weed out there and nobody was picking =
it."
Since 1979, at a cost of millions of dollars annually =
($13.5
million in 2002), the DEA has orchestrated an ambitious campaign of =
"marijuana=20
eradication." The scene West observed in the cornfield was, and still =
is, a=20
common one: a marijuana eradication team eradicating not marijuana but =
harmless=20
feral hemp, often called "ditchweed." Escaped remnants from commercial =
hemp=20
harvests of long ago still grow along railroad tracks and fence lines =
and in=20
fields and culverts throughout America's heartland. Justice Department=20
statistics show that year after year, as much as 98% of the "wild =
marijuana" the=20
DEA pulls up is actually ditchweed.
"Here was =
an agency=20
of the government that was selling this line"=97calling ditchweed=20
"marijuana"=97"that was obviously a perversion of reality," West says. =
"This is a=20
genetic resource issue. Instead of collecting, preserving and working =
with it,=20
we're sending the DEA to rappel down from helicopters to pull it out and =
destroy=20
it wherever they can find it."
From July 1999 until recently, =
West=20
presided over a state-sanctioned, corporate-funded quarter-acre test =
plot of=20
cannabis on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. He possessed the only DEA =
license to
research cannabis for industrial use. To meet DEA requirements, he =
fortified=20
his site with better security than you'd find at a typical Russian =
nuclear=20
stockpile. Ten-foot-high fencing topped with barbed wire, an alarm =
siren,=20
infrared beam perimeter. You'd think he was manufacturing enriched=20
plutonium.
For nearly four years West worked to develop a strain =
of=20
cannabis ideal for cultivation as industrial hemp in the United States. =
Funding
proved difficult given that investors and grants don't tend to find =
their way=20
to research for a crop that has been illegal in this country for 33 =
years. But=20
when he shut down the project last fall, West says, his decision wasn't =
prompted=20
so much by money woes as by the federal government's "strong and =
entrenched=20
opposition to hemp." In a written statement he handed to DEA agents =
Sept. 30,=20
the day he walked off the property for good, he left no doubt about his=20
feelings. "I quit in protest," his statement said.
A few months =
earlier,=20
he had begun girding himself for the unpleasant task of eliminating the =
very=20
thing his labors had created. "When I pull the plug," he lamented with =
wry=20
sarcasm, "the DEA will require that the seed be destroyed. It is, after =
all a=20
narcotic with no known redeeming use here on this flat earth."
=
The DEA=20
agents did indeed require West to destroy the seed. The government shows =
no=20
signs that it will allow industrial hemp to be grown in the United =
States=20
anytime soon.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
A =
Cannabis=20
Primer
Because they're often used =
interchangeably,the
terms cannabis, hemp and marijuana can be confusing. While cannabis =
encompasses=20
all varieties of the species, hemp, often called industrial hemp, has =
come to=20
mean a few dozen nonintoxicating varieties of cannabis bred and =
cultivated for=20
commercial ends: clothing, paper, food, biofuels, biodegradable plastic, =
building materials, automobile parts, insulators, paints, =
lubricants=97the list of=20
possibilities goes on.
Marijuana, on the other hand, refers =
strictly to=20
the cannabis drug plant, of which there exist endless varieties =
differentiated=20
by the amount of intoxicating substances they contain, notably
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Today virtually all strains of cannabis are =
the=20
product of human alteration, manipulated by scientists, breeders and =
drug=20
dealers to increase or decrease THC content and other characteristics to =
suit=20
their purposes.
Mitch Earleywine, a drug addiction expert at =
USC, says=20
marijuana typically contains a THC concentration of 2% to 5%, and some =
strains
have measured as much as 22% or higher. By contrast, industrial hemp =
has been=20
reduced by breeders to 0.3%, a trifle that authorities agree produces no =
psychoactive effect.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
=
The Myth=20
of Hemp Licensing
If you want to apply for a license to grow =
commercial=20
hemp, you must solicit the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA =
consistently
claims that no prohibition on hemp farming exists in this country, as =
if to=20
suggest that all one need do is file the proper paperwork and make a =
reasonable=20
case.
"We don't have any preconceived notions that we are or are =
not
going to approve or deny any application," says Frank Sapienza, the =
DEA's chief=20
of drug and chemical evaluation, implying that every case is a judgment =
call=20
that could go either way.
Nonetheless, the agency has rejected =
every=20
application it has ever received. How many? There's no =
telling=97literally. The=20
agency will say only that "the DEA does not have records of the number =
of=20
applications received for such activities"=97an extraordinary claim from =
an
organization that documents every marijuana plant that it and =
cooperating law=20
enforcement agencies uproot from U.S. soil. (In 2001, the total was =
3,304,760=20
plants, though nearly all of them were feral hemp, or "ditchweed," not=20
marijuana.)
Any denial that there is a U.S. hemp prohibition =
contradicts=20
a salient fact: The DEA has never approved an application for commercial =
hemp=20
cultivation.
Lee Green last wrote for the magazine about =
secular=20
ethicist Michael Josephson.