LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky agriculture officials say they’re burning a fraction of the hemp crop being grown for commercial purposes because it contains a higher level of a psychoactive compound than is legally allowed.

Brent Burchett is director of plant marketing for the state agriculture department. He says the state’s bound by law to destroy the 100 pounds (45 kilograms) in question because their THC level exceeded 0.3 percent, the limit set by Congress and followed by the state.

Grower Lyndsey Todd cultivated the hemp to be turned into medicine. Todd says her product is not psychoactive and that the 0.3 percent THC limit is an “unrealistic number.”

Hemp and marijuana are the same species, but hemp usually has a negligible amount of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.