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Harrelson Hemp trial postponed 90 days
Woody Asked for it
By Mike Lindenberger
BOONEVILLE, Ky. (Reuter) - Actor Woody Harrelson told a court
Wednesday he planted four marijuana seeds in a stunt to promote hemp
as a viable crop and was willing to go to jail if necessary to protest
a Kentucky law barring the plant.
The actor, famous for roles as a bartender in the television
series ``Cheers'' and as a crazed killer in the movie ``Natural Born
Killers'', testified at a county court hearing over a misdemeanor
marijuana possession charge that could land him a three-month jail
term.
``I came to this initially as an environmentalist, now I see it as
an important crop issue for farmers,'' Harrelson testified. ``One
hundred and fifty years ago hemp was the leading cash crop in
Kentucky, and in my mind I don't see any reason why that can't be the
case again.''
Kentucky remains one of the leading states for illegal marijuana
cultivation, while hemp, a form of the plant that contains only a tiny
fraction of the drug that gives marijuana smokers the ``high,'' is
still banned.
Amid the intensifying opposition to cigarettes, Kentucky's tobacco
farmers could profit by switching to hemp, which can be substituted
for trees in making paper and can be used to create clothing and other
products, Harrelson argued.
Lee County Judge Ralph McClahan said he will take 90 days to
decide whether to grant Harrelson's motion to dismiss the charges,
with the understanding any ruling may be appealed to challenge the
state's law that bans all forms of marijuana.
Following the hearing, Harrelson said he hoped he would not have
to choose between the prosecutor's offer of going to jail for 90 days
or accepting a year suspended sentence that was conditioned on him
having nothing to do with hemp in the state.
Harrelson, who spends a lot of time in Costa Rica, said he hoped
to purchase more land in Kentucky.
He owns a company in California, Hempstead Co., which sells
hemp-based products. The company had roughly $1.5 million in sales
last year, but strict U.S. laws forced suppliers to acquire the raw
material from China and elsewhere.
When asked whether he was interested in pursuing the legalization
of marijuana in general, Harrelson laughed and said no. ``That's not
really my concern. In my checkered past, no one I knew ever had any
problem acquiring it.''
In June, Harrelson purchased an acre of land near Booneville and
immediately planted four French hemp seeds -- one less than the five
seeds which constitute a felony -- expressly to challenge the Kentucky
law.
At Wednesday's hearing, police who work in drug enforcement
testified that legalizing hemp would make tracking illegal marijuana
growers nearly impossible.
But Harrelson argued that he had visited hemp farms in England,
Germany and the Netherlands where authorities were able to distinguish
between legal and criminal varieties.
Reuters/Variety
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The Hempstead Company
Quality Hemp Wholesale and Retail... Since 1991
http://www.hempstead.com
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