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For nearly a year now, Oregon has had a law that allows farmers to grow hemp as an agricultural crop for industrial applications. But nobody has been allowed to start because the federal government continues to classify the crop as a controlled substance subject to a government ban.
Bruce Pokarney, the spokesman for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, says several dozen people have inquired about when they could get a state license to grow hemp under Senate Bill 676, which overwhelmingly cleared the legislature in 2009 and took effect last fall.
They've all had to be turned down because the state law change, Pokarney says, was predicated on the federal restrictions being lifted.
North Dakota has had a state law allowing hemp production for several years, but none was being planted. Angered by the federal refusal, North Dakota in 2007 passed a law saying that federal authority would not be needed in order to get a state license. But apparently the fear of federal production has stymied the development of this crop there as well.
The feds are opposed because hemp is in the same plant family as marijuana. But industrial hemp is not a drug. It's the oil-seed and fiber varieties of this plant, which have no potential for use as a drug at all.
A national group, Vote Hemp, reports that besides Oregon and North Dakota, states that have authorized hemp cultivation are Maine, Maryland, Vermont and West Virginia. But the Drug Enforcement Administration has refused to budge, insisting that it should be up to Congress to reclassify the plant.
If it weren't for the possibility of being raided by the DEA and losing your farm for growing a prohibited crop, farmers might just go ahead and try it, assuming the soil and weather conditions are right. But they are wise to be cautious. Oregon and the other states cannot protect growers from the might of the DEA.
If you're looking for an example of federal power squelching the states for no good reason, this is one of the best ones you can find.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Albany Democrat-Herald
Contact:Contact Information | Democrat-Herald
Copyright: 2010, democratherald.com
Website:Editorial: As for hemp, still stymied
Bruce Pokarney, the spokesman for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, says several dozen people have inquired about when they could get a state license to grow hemp under Senate Bill 676, which overwhelmingly cleared the legislature in 2009 and took effect last fall.
They've all had to be turned down because the state law change, Pokarney says, was predicated on the federal restrictions being lifted.
North Dakota has had a state law allowing hemp production for several years, but none was being planted. Angered by the federal refusal, North Dakota in 2007 passed a law saying that federal authority would not be needed in order to get a state license. But apparently the fear of federal production has stymied the development of this crop there as well.
The feds are opposed because hemp is in the same plant family as marijuana. But industrial hemp is not a drug. It's the oil-seed and fiber varieties of this plant, which have no potential for use as a drug at all.
A national group, Vote Hemp, reports that besides Oregon and North Dakota, states that have authorized hemp cultivation are Maine, Maryland, Vermont and West Virginia. But the Drug Enforcement Administration has refused to budge, insisting that it should be up to Congress to reclassify the plant.
If it weren't for the possibility of being raided by the DEA and losing your farm for growing a prohibited crop, farmers might just go ahead and try it, assuming the soil and weather conditions are right. But they are wise to be cautious. Oregon and the other states cannot protect growers from the might of the DEA.
If you're looking for an example of federal power squelching the states for no good reason, this is one of the best ones you can find.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Albany Democrat-Herald
Contact:Contact Information | Democrat-Herald
Copyright: 2010, democratherald.com
Website:Editorial: As for hemp, still stymied
