Pro-hemp legislation has either passed or is brewing in at least 11 additional states. Nearly all the states' pro-hemp legislators and advocates have consulted the Bluegrass activists at one time or another. They are helping everyone else. Across the gently sloping hills of Lexington and surrounding towns, hemp grows tall and wild, a reminder of when the plant and the state's economy were intertwined as closely as mint juleps and Derby Day. Even Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser and a beloved native son, was a hemp farmer.
Kentucky lore has it that hemp seed is what made the canaries in the coal mines sing.
The current Kentucky hemp movement started in 1993 and moved into national focus in '96, when Harrelson joined forces with Hickey, Lexington tobacco farmer and businessman Andy Graves and others. Jake Graves, a pillar of Lexington society, was a leading Kentucky hemp farmer in the early '30s. He adds that the state's hemp history made it the logical place to do battle. A suit challenging the state ban is currently before the Kentucky Supreme Court, filed after Harrelson planted four hemp seeds on his small Lee County property in 1996. The activists are plotting their next move on a federal suit that was dismissed in March.