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Title: Sen. Rand Paul joins Oregon Sen. Wyden's push for legal hemp
Source:
Kansas City Star
URL Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/1 ... and-paul-joins-oregon-sen.html
Published: Jun 11, 2012
Author: Jack Brammer
Post Date: 2012-06-11 21:08:58 by A K A Stone
Keywords: None
Views: 1239
Comments: 3
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, is joining a Democratic senator from Oregon in supporting a proposal to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp. Vote Hemp, a non-profit organization pushing the issue, said Friday that Paul has signed on as a co-sponsor of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden's proposed amendment to the omnibus farm bill. The amendment would exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana, allowing American farmers to grow industrial hemp. Under the amendment, the cultivation of industrial hemp would be regulated by state permitting programs, like North Dakota's, and would not impact the federal government's long-standing prohibition of marijuana. Paul, whose father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, introduced a similar measure earlier this year, could not be reached for comment. His Washington office did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment. Wyden, in a statement, said, "Industrial hemp is used in many healthy and sustainable consumer products. However, the federal prohibition on growing industrial hemp has forced companies to needlessly import raw materials from other countries." Wyden said his amendment would allow U.S. farmers to produce hemp for safe and legitimate products, helping both producers and suppliers to grow and improve the economy. So far, 31 states have introduced pro-hemp legislation and 17 have passed laws. Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, said Wyden's amendment will mark the first time since the 1950s that language supporting hemp has come to the floor of the House or Senate for a vote. "The time is past due for the Senate as well as President Obama and the attorney general to prioritize the crop's benefits to farmers and to take action like Rep. Ron Paul and the co-sponsors of this amendment have done," Steenstra said. "With the U.S. hemp industry valued at over $400 million in annual retail sales and growing, a change in federal policy to allow hemp farming would mean instant job creation, among many other economic and environmental benefits." Ryan Fletcher, a spokesman for Vote Hemp, said the Senate vote on Wyden's amendment is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. The farm bill is the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the federal government. The omnibus bill is passed every five years or so by Congress and deals with both agriculture and all other affairs under the purview of the United States Department of Agriculture. The federal government outlawed hemp farming in the United States more than 50 years ago. Opponents of allowing industrial hemp contend it is a Schedule 1 controlled substance and is hard to distinguish from marijuana. Hemp is a term reserved mainly for low THC strains of the Cannabis sativa plant. It would be used for industrial purposes, including paper, textiles, clothing, insulation and bio-fuel.
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#1. To: A K A Stone (#0)
Long overdue. The argument has been that it would be too easy to hide marijuana plants among the hemp. However, the "medical" marijuana industry has overtaken that kind of thinking already. In fact, marijuana cultivation would be more difficult because the pollen of the hemp ditchweed would contaminate recreational marijuana, dragging down its quality genetically over time. So industrial hemp would hurt the genetics of the "medical" pot, exactly how much, we don't know. In addition, the use of the hemp fiber could provide exports and domestic manufacture and, since hemp is such a weed and can grow so many places, it could be grown on marginal and semi-arid lands where corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton could never thrive.
I wouldn't mind growing hemp for industrial purposes if there was a market that paid me enough to make it worthwhile.
Have the DEA agents smoke a couple of doooies, if they don't get high it's industrial hemp, and if they do get high it just might mellow them out.
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
#2. To: A K A Stone (#0)
#3. To: A K A Stone (#0)
(Edited)
industrial hemp contend it is a Schedule 1 controlled substance and is hard to distinguish from marijuana.
Undercover Narc Sgt. Stedenko
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
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