Former CIA director espouses virtues of industrial hemp
James Woolsey, former U.S. CIA Director from 1993 to 1995, recently praised the virtues of hemp at an energy security conference where he fielded a question from the audience on industrial hemp. Reportedly, event organizers tried to sweep the "embarassing" question aside, but Woosley insisted on answering.
What came next surprised many, as Woolsey went into a lengthy commentary on hemp benefits and the folly of current U.S. anti-hemp policy. Woolsey, who often speaks on energy security, hilighted the potential of producing cellulolsic ethanol from hemp and drew attention to the potential disruptive nature legal hemp would have on illegal marijuana plots:
"If you wanted to hide marijuana in a field of industrial hemp, you'd have to be very high," Woolsey said. He explained that industrial hemp has a very low THC level compared to marijuana for recreational and medical use. (THC is the psychoactive component of marijuana.) So low is that level that placing the two plants together causes the recreational marijuana to lose its potency because of cross-pollination with the industrial version (check out the full post written by Kurt Kobb of Resource Insights)Interestingly, two former CIA employees, Woosley and Dr. Robert E. “Bob” Armstrong serve on the North American Industrial Hemp Council Board.