No Proof Hemp Plants Were Stolen
* Regarding “Hemp’s Half Acre” (Aug. 28), I would like to make some comments regarding my company.
The piece was a fairly well-balanced account of this significant and historical event involving the potentially premier fiber crop of the next century, our company and the state authorities this past summer.
However, the most disturbing (and predictable) assertion made by Imperial County narcotics officers that “local children were . . . stealing plants” is without any known proof. To our knowledge there are no police reports or complaints to substantiate this sensational claim.
In regard to the possibility of indictments issued against the participants in this experiment, we were told by the officers involved that there would be none. To say we are still under investigation by the attorney general’s office is, to our knowledge, untrue. Our guess is the authorities hope this whole incident would just go away, rather than renew interest in legitimate, industrial hemp research and production.
Finally, you omitted the fact that the Hempstead Co. was in fact founded by myself, David Martyn and Chris Boucher.
BRIAN AMBROSE
Costa Mesa
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