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California racing North Dakota to restart industrial hemp farming PDF Print E-mail
Written by Adam Eidinger   
    Is 50 years of prohibition on “industrial” hemp farming about to end? That’s what US farmers are asking as they have new reasons to believe 2007 could mark the first US hemp crop harvest since 1957. Since demand for hemp seed and oil has exploded in recent years, legislative and legal challenges to bring back versatile low-THC hemp have new momentum. Healthy hemp foods such breads, salad dressing, cereal and snack bars as well as body care products such soaps and lotions are more popular than ever. With hemp imports including fiber products such as clothing and rope estimated at $250 to $300 million annually, US farmers feel left out and are speaking up.

The official meeting marked a turning point in the federal government's relations with hemp-friendly policy makers, who have been routinely ignored by DEA officials.

    In response, North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson formally proposed rules May 3 to license farmers in his state to grow industrial hemp under existing state law. Meanwhile the California Senate is expected to pass hemp farming legislation in early summer and hemp industry experts are optimistic Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign the bill which has bipartisan support in the CA legislature.

    The progress in two of the nation’s biggest agriculture states plays to the backdrop of farmers across Canada planting over 30,000 acres of industrial hemp this year. Canadian farmers have reported net profits averaging $250 per acre over the past three years. This might seem low, but farmers say they are earning three to ten times what they would make growing traditional crops such as wheat, soy or corn.
 
    In February, Commissioner Johnson, along with agriculture commissioners from three other states, met with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials in Washington, DC to explore acceptable rules on industrial hemp farming. The official meeting marked a turning point in the federal government’s relations with hemp-friendly policy makers who have been routinely ignored by DEA officials.

   {quotes right}“This is seemingly an about face for an agency that has threatened to prosecute anyone who tries to grow non-psychoactive hemp in America,”{/quotes} says Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra whose organization is working to promote industrial hemp farming and was instrumental in getting the first federal hemp bill (HR 3037) introduced last year.

ND has restrictive approach

    While ND’s rules would require farmers to secure a permit from DEA before their licenses would become effective, there is precedent for this as the DEA permitted a test plot of industrial hemp in Hawaii from 1999 to 2003. ND’s proposed rules cover commercial hemp farming and include a number of restrictions to alleviate law enforcement concerns.

    Proposed rules include:

• {quotes}Farmers must consent to a criminal background check including fingerprints;{/quotes}
• How much and who the farmer sells to must be documented within 30 days;
• Location of the field must be provided using geopositioning (GPS) coordinates;
• Planted hemp must contain less than three-tenths of one percent THC.

    Many uses, such as foods, animal bedding, biofuel and composites, will be more viable if hemp is treated like other crops. “How can a raw material that’s legal to import, to sell, to eat and to use in all kinds of everyday products not be legal for farmers in America to grow? No other agricultural commodity is restricted to just importation,” says Steenstra.

    While ND progress could get hung up by DEA disapproval, lawyers with the hemp industry are preparing a court challenge if the DEA fails to cooperate with ND or CA when hemp legislation becomes law. The legal theory supporting the right of these states to regulate hemp farming stems from language in the Controlled Substances Act which exempts hemp from federal control.

    Using this legal theory the Hemp Industries Association created a legal precedent when the group which represents 300 hemp businesses won their lawsuit in 2004 against DEA, protecting sales of hemp foods and body care the agency tried to ban. Building upon HIA v. DEA makes sense since its legal to grow poppy plants in the US even though it’s a controlled substance. Since the DEA ignores poppy cultivation so long as the farmer isn’t making heroin, one would think the DEA would also ignore hemp farming that is regulated by local authorities who ensure it is not the “marijuana” variety of cannabis.

    Currently seven states (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, ND and West Virginia) have passed pro-hemp farming laws. {quotes right}Sales of hemp foods in 2004/2005 grew by 50 percent over the previous 12-month period.{/quotes} There are more than 2.5 million cars on US roads that contain hemp composites. Hemp cultivation in Canada is expected to exceed 30,000 acres in 2006, while European farmers now grow more than 40,000 acres. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses can be found at www.VoteHemp.com.

    For updates on voter initiatives nationally: www.drugsense.org/caip#take
 
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