It's not pot; it's hemp: a viable agricultural product. (On First Reading).

Pot it's not,

It's industrial hemp, used to make rope, clothes and car parts (replacing fiberglass), as well as to supply omega oils for cereals, nutrition bars, body oils and shampoos.

A distant cousin to its more maligned relative, marijuana, hemp has very little tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the chemical that gives pot its kick). In fact, hemp's 1 percent THC is far too low to give anyone a psychoactive high. But since the 1930s growth of the plant has been banned in the United States, so hemp or hemp products must be imported.

Farmers in many states have expressed a desire to be able to grow hemp and compete with the foreign imports. Hawaii needs a replacement for its sugar crop; Maryland needs something to make up for its tobacco losses. And farmers in the northern border states look across to legal Canadian fields and wonder if the price for hemp exceeds whatever they are getting for the crops they grow legally on U. S. soil.

Addressing these concerns, supporters have asked Congress to direct the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to revise its policies and allow states to establish their own regulatory programs. NCSL policy developed in 2000 supports this move.

The DEA says that the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 bars not only marijuana, but any plant with THC, so hemp, even with faint traces, is illegal. There is a precedent for changing this, however. In the 1990s, drug-test thresholds were raised for opiates to accommodate the poppy seed industry.

Some 20 states have expressed an interest in hemp through enacted legislation, resolutions, voter initiatives and pending legislation. Such agricultural centers as South Dakota and Minnesota have backed hemp production. And former tobacco farmers in Kentucky successfully pushed legislation creating an Industrial Hemp Commission.

Hawaii is the only state to get a DEA permit to grow hemp as a trial product. The permit requires 12-foot fencing and infrared surveillance. A hair care products company, Alterna, is paying for the plot, but the security requirements for even a small test plot can be exorbitant.

For more information or copies of the legal arguments about hemp production, see www.thehia.org