ASHINGTON - Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader joined people who want to grow and market industrial hemp yesterday in criticizing federal agencies for making it difficult for farmers to grow the crop. Nader, of Winsted, Conn., also spoke out against a recent raid on a South Dakota Indian reservation in which federal agents seized at least 2,000 plants described as industrial-grade hemp plants by the crop's owner. Hemp cannot be grown commercially in the United States because it belongs to the same family as marijuana, although Nader pointed out that the levels of hallucinogenic THC are far lower in hemp than in marijuana. ''It is analogous to consuming poppy seed bagels or nonalcoholic beer,'' he said. Nader said the Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing new rules that would require a product containing any amount of THC to be classified a ''Schedule I'' controlled substance, the same category as heroin and LSD. Exceptions would be made for industrial hemp products not intended for human consumption, such as paper, clothing, or rope. While American farmers are barred from growing hemp, manufacturers are allowed to import it from other nations that produce hemp products.
Cheney disputes math on charitable giving
ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Republican vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney bristled at questions yesterday about donating less than 1 percent of his income to charity in light of running mate Governor George W. Bush's call to substitute giving for government activism. ''You can disagree with that,'' he told reporters on his airplane about his level of giving over the past 10 years. ''I thought it was appropriate.'' He also disagreed with the reporters' arithmetic. While they counted only direct cash donations, he said that noncash items doubled the amount to more than $400,000. Charity has been an important theme in the Bush-Cheney campaign, in part as a substitute for government programs. ''We must rally the armies of compassion,'' Bush has repeatedly told audiences, and has proposed expanding the permissible tax deductions for charitable contributions by those who do not itemize, as well as lifting the cap on corporate giving. Last week Cheney released a summary of his charitable giving, as well as the first two pages of each of his tax returns for the 10-year period. They showed Cheney made cash donations of $209,832 to charity against a total income of $21.8 million between 1990 and 2000. Cheney told reporters that was only part of the story, reminding them that he and his wife had decided to forgo $89,500 in honorariums for giving speeches and that corporate boards on which he and his wife sat had matched $142,820 in donations. In all, he said, that amounted to $442,152 of giving, or 2 percent of his income. Cheney's aides said he had spent 30 years of his life in public service - as defense secretary, a member of Congress, and White House chief of staff, among other posts - and that only in the past five years had he begun earning substantial money to pass on to his children and grandchildren. A spokeswoman said Cheney would make additional donations.
