Kentucky Hemp

One day in the near future the paper on which this report is written may be manufactured from Kentucky grown hemp. Industrial hemp is not the same variety as illegal hemp (marijuana) and it usually contains only trace amounts of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), "A plant cultivated for marijuana may have 3 to 20 percent THC content. Industrial hemp is generally regulated at a THC level of 0.3%" (Fact 1). America used to have a thriving hemp industry in the 18th and 19th century before the federal government banned the crop in 1937, and the Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper with hemp advocates like George Washington exclaiming, "Make the most of the hemp seed and sow it every where" (Fact 2). In Kentucky, where tobacco is the largest agricultural cash crop, proposals have been underway to legalize industrial hemp production because of fears that tobacco production may suffer from recent attacks on the tobacco industry from all sides. Hemp represents a good rotational cash crop that is not labor-intensive and a poll conducted by the University of Kentucky Research Center found "77 percent of Kentuckians strongly favor or somewhat favor legalizing industrial hemp as a cash crop" (Glenn 2).

The individuals who grow industrial hemp, the counties in which it is grown and the state of Kentucky could benefit from of legalization legislation because hemp is shown to be not as economically profitable as tobac

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-pressed Kentucky farmers, and that people could make some money raising it. Graves said he made money on it years ago, a �lot of money'" (Ward 1). The economic benefits to the counties and states in which industrial hemp would be grown stand to profit as well because hemp has been shown to be a viable crop, one that can compete with wood pulp if production and processing costs remain low because hemp "�yields two to four times as much fiber per acre" (Ward 2). Hemp may one day end up being extremely profitable because there are more than 25,000 products that are manufactured from it, from cosmetics and clothes to paper and feed for livestock. Hemp will also continue to be a viable economic alternative as the world becomes more and more environmentally conscious, from necessity as well as concern. In the past fifty years mankind has cut down 50% of the world's forests and hemp is an excellent alternative for making paper, cardboard and a host of products that are made from lumber. As more and more people wish to preserve the environment they may favor legalizing industrial hemp because it is not only a partial solution to the world's dwindling forests, but its very nature makes it more environmentally friendly where the

Category: Economics - K