Pubdate: Fri, 24 Mar 2000
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
Fax: (213) 237-4712
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/
Author: Mark R. Chellgren, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark: MAP's link to hemp items:
http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm

ACTOR FACES TRIAL FOR POT POSSESSION

FRANKFORT, Ky.--Actor Woody Harrelson today lost his battle to draw a
legal line between industrial hemp and its narcotic cousin marijuana.

The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled there is no difference and said
Harrelson has to go back to Lee County to be tried for possession of
marijuana.

Harrelson planted four hemp seeds in 1996, knowing he would be
arrested so he could challenge the law outlawing possession of any
part of the cannabis plant.

Through three different courts, the star of "Natural Born Killers" and
"The People vs. Larry Flynt" has argued the statute is
unconstitutional because it does not distinguish between marijuana and
hemp, which contains only minute amounts of the substance that makes
marijuana smokers high, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.

"The mere fact that hemp may contain less THC than marijuana is of no
consequence," Justice Donald Wintersheimer wrote.

The state Supreme Court said Harrelson should be making his argument
in the General Assembly, not the courts.

Harrelson's trial for possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor that
carries a potential fine and little possibility for jail time, has
been put off pending his appeals. After one earlier hearing on his
case, Harrelson said he was prepared to stand trial to continue his
fight.

Defense attorney Charles Beal said Harrelson holds strong convictions
about the environmental and economic benefits of hemp.

"I suspect we'll end up going to trial," Beal said.

Prosecutor Tom Jones did not immediately return a phone call seeking
comment.

Harrelson has invested in a hemp clothing company, and he touts hemp's
potential for saving America's last old-growth trees. He has argued
that if paper manufacturers used hemp instead of trees to make paper,
there would be no need to cut down the nation's forests.

Kentucky is an ideal battleground for hemp advocates because hemp was
once one of the state's leading crops. In the 1800s it was used to
make rope and sails, but anti-drug laws, the availability of other
fibers and the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 wiped out production in the
United States. However, some farmers did grow hemp during World War II
under federal license. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake