States Petition for Right to Grow Hemp
PAWELSKI: Welcome back. A grassroots movements of sorts is under way to legalize hemp, a non-narcotic form of marijuana. The fight has gained a little publicity of late with Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader throwing his support to the cause. Kathleen Koch looks at the controversy.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It grows like a weed, industrial hemp, a cousin of marijuana, but without its narcotic kick. Canadian farmers have planted 100,000 acres of the hearty crop since Canada lifted its ban two years ago.</s>RICK PLOTNIKOV, CANADIAN HEMP FARMER: It grows 2 inches a day. It requires no irrigation. We didn't even use any fertilizer in this crop.</s>KOCH: The lure is the heap of hemp products starting to crowd store shelves. It has 25,000 commercial uses, including clothing, bracelets, wallets, food, fiber board, even entire lines of beauty products.</s>SEAN DONOHUE, THE BODY SHOP: We have products that take care of your hair, we have products that take care of your skin, we have a hand protector.</s>KOCH: But under U.S. drug laws, growing hemp and marijuana remains illegal.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're harvesting seeds. Where you see this plot right here...</s>KOCH: Still, Hawaii last year got federal permission to plant hemp experimentally under tight security.</s>CYNTHIA THIELEN, HAWAII STATE LEGISLATOR: We have sugar plantations that have gone belly up. We've got a lot of vacant agricultural land. Hemp is a real answer for Hawaii.</s>KOCH: Maryland, North Dakota and Minnesota are also vying for approval to grow hemp legally.</s>THOMAS MCCLAIN, MARYLAND STATE LEGISLATOR: It could be an alternative crop, especially for those of us in southern Maryland whose principal cash crop here is tobacco. We're looking for alternative crops.</s>KOCH: Hemp has a colorful history, it was grown by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Early drafts of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. Henry Ford even made auto body panels for earl cars using hemp fibers. But marijuana and hemp were banned in the United States in 1937.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hemp for mooring ships, hemp for tow lines.</s>KOCH: But when World War II broke out, farmers were given temporary permits to grow hemp for the military.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hemp for victory.</s>KOCH: Drug officials insist allowing hemp to be cultivated again would create confusion for law officers who couldn't distinguish hemp from marijuana.</s>BARRY MCCAFFREY, U.S. DRUG POLICY DIRECTOR: Indeed in many cases they can only be determined by chemical assessment. I think what's going on is an attempt to make widespread growing of hemp products almost impossible for U.S. law enforcement to deal with.</s>KOCH: While the two plants look similar, hemp was bred to have strong fibers. It has only a fraction of marijuana's mind-altering compound, THC. Hemp plants are planted close to grow tall; marijuana plants farther apart to grow more leaves.</s>ANDY KERR, ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT: Supposedly American cops can't tell the difference between hemp and marijuana. But gendarmes, bobbies and mounties all can tell the difference and tell us there isn't a problem.</s>KOCH (on camera): While U.S. drug enforcement officials are said to be reviewing their policy, there's no indication hemp will get the green light anytime soon. Kathleen Koch for CNN, Washington.</s>PAWELSKI: In Afghanistan, people have long been enduring fighting between the ruling Taliban forces and rival militias. Now the effects of a three-year drought are setting in and observers say if rain doesn't come soon, the scene may rival those we've seen from Africa. Nic Robertson reports.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Desperate for water, Afghan women dig in a dried up irrigation canal. Three years without proper rain has left all but one of southern Afghanistan's nine rivers dry. (on camera): Empty now for more than four months, this dam was once more than 40 meters deep, and provided water and livelihood for more than 1 million people. The valley, it's said, was fabled for its fine fruits. Now, all that and more is threatened.</s>SIMON TAYLOR, MERCY CORPS INTERNATIONAL: The absence of rain will mean one thing: mass population movement, and that's what we're trying to discourage at the moment.</s>ROBERTSON (voice-over): Providing drinking water, the top priority. This well already left dry by the rapidly falling water table. Villagers crowd around another, its hole just deep enough to reach water. "The water keeps receding," Haji (ph) says. "Yes, it keeps receding and it's got worms," adds Mohamed (ph). Even the old here say they have never seen the situation so bad. Their fear, if the water runs out, they will have to leave. Already, they say, most of their 10,000 animals -- this villages' livelihood -- have either died or been sold because there is no food. Further down the valley, fruit farmers face a similar plight. "You can see they are dry," Yar (ph) says. "They have nothing in them." His fear now: lack of water will kill the trees. At a nearby well, girls collect water while they can. The level 15 feet down from two weeks ago, and with no rain expected any time soon, aid groups say they have no idea how long the rapidly dwindling supplies will last. Already, tens of thousands have fled to cities in search of water and food. Among the hardest hit: the nomadic Kuchus (ph). "I am so hungry," Mohamed (ph) says, "I cannot afford any food." Malnutrition is not a killer yet; aid officials, however, worry their food stocks will not meet demand.</s>LESLIE OQUIST, U.N. COORDINATOR: Very, very severe, and unless rain falls in the coming rainy season, probably we'll see Africa-like pictures in this region.</s>ROBERTSON: More than 5 million people are threatened. So far, the falling water is costing them only their livelihoods; the fear is with no rain, it will start costing lives. Nic Robertson, CNN, Kandahar (ph), Afghanistan.</s>PAWELSKI: Up next on EARTH MATTERS, a clean-air initiative that gets more people to buy alternative-fuel vehicles. Why is this program a disaster? Also ahead...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't care if I look like a bag lady.</s>PAWELSKI: Another clean-air program gets people off on the right foot.