Besides raising the sales tax, he called out the National Guard to stop Vietnam War protesters at the University of Kentucky. Now he's the state's No.1 hemp promoter, a cause usually associated with, well, pacifist hippie types. He seems to have mellowed somewhat in his post-office years, observes John Ed Pearce, the Kentucky writer. Yeah, just a little. These days the former governor is plugging hemp as the state's best alternative to tobacco.
Problem is, it's illegal.
Kentucky law doesn't distinguish between hemp and its relative, marijuana, even though only marijuana contains enough THC to carry a Cheech and Chong movie. Frankly, I was opposed to the legalization of hemp for years because I had been of the opinion hemp was marijuana, the former governor writes. I was short-sighted in my thinking, and I was wrong. He notes the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper. He argues, persuasively, that police in other countries can and do distinguish between hemp and pot.