“I am proud to introduce legislation with my friend Rand Paul that will allow Kentucky farmers to harness the economic potential that industrial hemp can provide.” Mitch McConnell, senior United States senator from Kentucky, stated this on Feb. 14. Recent success by legislators in Kentucky to legalize hemp has sparked more controversy. One might think that a country whose founding fathers grew hemp, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, specifically, would keep the “cousin” of the marijuana plant, Cannabis sativa, legal. One would think so, but instead, hemp is classified as a Schedule I drug, the same level as LSD and heroin. The Kentucky bill passed through the state House and Senate a few days ago, but Gov. Steve Beshear refused to sign the bill because of concerns expressed by law enforcement. “This isn’t a drug, it’s an agriculture product,” said Trinity Spanish teacher and Urban Farming Club moderator Mrs. Mary Walden. “The THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content in hemp is so low that if somebody tried to make a drug out of it, they couldn’t.” Trinity social studies teacher Mr. Paul Vale concurs, saying, “The strains have such a trace amount of THC, you would need to smoke tens of thousands of pounds to get a high, but you would asphyxiate first.” Former CIA director R. James Woolsey backs legalizing hemp with a clever quip: “The specter of people getting high on industrial hemp is pretty much exactly like saying you can get drunk on O’Doul’s.” Among the many ways to utilize hemp, textile use is one of the most discussed possibilities, and Kentucky has fallen behind in the textile industry. “Our biggest textile manufacturer was Fruit of the Loom,” Vale said. Fruit of the Loom’s world headquarters is still based in Bowling Green, Ky., but it has now been reduced to only one textile plant in Jamestown. Additional uses for hemp, beneficial in nutrition supplements due to its fatty and amino acids, are cosmetic products, paper products, fabric, rope, a burning fuel, plastics, and some building materials. “I think it would be better (for Kentucky) than tobacco, since tobacco has lost a lot of favor,” Walden said. “Industrial hemp would be a better replacement.” Vale also noted that the tobacco industry is declining, and putting industrial hemp to use could create a boom in Kentucky’s economy. The leading reason hemp is still banned from production in the United States is simply because it could obfuscate the prevention of marijuana growing operations. “I have a friend that’s a cop, and one reason for opposition is there is not much visual difference. It’s difficult for law enforcement to weed out illegal plants from legal,” Walden said, not intending the pun. From a law enforcement perspective, she says, hemp could be treacherous waters. Vale explained that there are other factors in the fight against hemp. He said, “They’re afraid hemp could cross-pollinate with marijuana plants.” Vale stands firm that the fears of law enforcement and government officials are nothing more than a “nightmare scenario. People make nightmare scenarios that if you’re licensed to grow grain, that you’ll grow marijuana. That’s more possible with hemp. In Canada, marijuana is illegal, but hemp is legal. Canadian inspectors take samples from people’s fields and find that it is one third of one percent the THC content of marijuana. You can get a bigger high off Vick’s over-the-counter cough syrup. Crime reports in Canada are negligible.” Walden’s agrees with Vale. She said, “That’s like saying planting salvia flowers in your front yard is like legalizing drugs. It’s apples to oranges. People need to educate themselves.”