U.S. Farmers Want In on Industrial Hemp [View All]

[NVMojo]

It's time ...

Nov. 22, 2005

As the market

for products grows, farmers fight to legalize controversial crop

David Monson is a conservative Republican in North Dakota's legislature. He's also a farmer who believes that a new cash crop could revitalize his state's agricultural industry, which has been suffering from poor harvests and depressed soy and corn prices.

The problem: The crop coveted by Monson and hundreds of farmers like him is hemp, the same species of cannabis plant as marijuana — with virtually no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient in marijuana that makes users high. The federal government doesn't recognize that distinction, and bans the production of hemp in the USA. It does, however, allow manufacturers of cosmetics, clothing, paper and foods to import hemp fiber, seed and oil from Canada and Europe for use in their products.

That policy has led to an explosion in goods containing high-fiber, high-protein hemp that has been fueled by Americans' thirst for organic products — and perhaps by the tie some consumers see between hemp and marijuana, a counterculture symbol for decades. It also has put the cannabis plant at the center of a battle between unlikely foes: angry farmers such as Monson who are leading increasingly vocal calls for the U.S. government to legalize the growing of what's known as “industrial” hemp, and federal anti-drug officials who say that allowing such crops would create a slippery slope toward legalizing marijuana.

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http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20051122/a_hemplaws22.art.htm