To date, twenty-six states have introduced hemp legislation and fourteen have passed legislation; six (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia) have removed barriers to its production or research.

We have now reached a major milestone ... for the first time since the federal government effectively outlawed hemp farming in the United States, a federal bill has been introduced that would remove restrictions on the cultivation of non-psychoactive industrial hemp.

The bill was written with the help of Vote Hemp by chief sponsor Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), and several original co-sponsors have already signed on. The bill defines industrial hemp and assigns authority over it to the states, allowing laws in those states regulating the growing and processing of industrial hemp to take effect.

Read the bill here: http://www.VoteHemp.com/PDF/Hemp_Farming_Act.pdf

Write your Representative in Congress and encourage him or her to support American farmers by co-sponsoring H.B. 3037:

http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/alert/?alertid=7762501&type=CO

At the luncheon consumer advocate Ralph Nader called the U.S. ban on hemp farming "bureaucratic medievalism" because over 30 industrialized countries are growing hemp and the U.S. is the number one importer of the crop, but won't allow domestic cultivation.

A highlight video of the speakers may be viewed online at:

http://flow.mediavac.com/ramgen/sinkers/2005/rayburnbldgJun2305.rm

Representing farming interests at the event was North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson. "Industrial hemp is used in a tremendous variety of products, including food products, soap, cosmetics, fertilizer, textiles, paper, paints and plastics," Johnson said. "Once the crop is legalized in this country, I believe science will find even more uses for industrial hemp, uses that will make industrial hemp a popular and profitable crop."

North Dakota State Rep. David Monson (R-Osnabrock), a farmer who successfully sponsored several bills in the North Dakota State Legislature regulating the production and research of industrial hemp, said "industrial hemp production is on hold in North Dakota and the entire U.S. due to roadblocks in Washington, D.C. We have had tremendous bipartisan support for legislation we've introduced in North Dakota."

U.S. companies that manufacture or sell products made with hemp include Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, the number-one-selling natural soap, Interface, the world's largest manufacturer of commercial carpet and carpet tiles, FlexForm Technologies, an Indiana company whose natural fiber materials are found in 1.5 million cars, Alterna, a professional hair care company whose hemp products are beloved by Julia Roberts and other celebrities, California-based Nutiva Hemp Foods and HempWorld, Inc., Adidas USA which has been selling hemp sneakers since 1995. Although hemp grows wild across the U.S., a vestige of centuries of hemp farming, the hemp for these products must be imported.

There is widespread support among national organizations for a change in the federal government's position on hemp. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) "supports revisions to the federal rules and regulations authorizing commercial production of industrial hemp." The National Grange "supports research, production, processing and marketing of industrial hemp as a viable agricultural activity."

"Industrial hemp has become a lucrative crop for farmers in Europe, Canada and Asia, so farmers here are asking 'Why are we being left out?'" says Alexis Baden-Mayer, Director of Government Relations for Vote Hemp. For thousands of years different varieties of Cannabis have been cultivated for non-drug uses such as paper, canvas, soap, food, building materials and recently high-tech bio-composites used in automobiles. Hemp and marijuana come from different varieties of the Cannabis plant.

"Because there are millions of cars on the road with hemp door panels, tens of millions of dollars are spent annually on hemp food and hemp body care, and hemp paper is being made in the U.S., people are asking tough questions about why the U.S. government won't distinguish low-THC hemp from high-THC drug varieties. I believe this federal legislation will gain momentum over the next year as we spend time educating Congress and their constituents about the need for reform," says Baden-Mayer from VoteHemp.com.

Hemp For Victory HR 3037
June 25, 2005 By Ralph Nader © Common Dreams

USA -- Congressman Ron Paul, a libertarian from Texas and an obstetrician who has delivered over 6000 babies, is trying to deliver our farmers from a bureaucratic medievalism in Washington that keeps saying "No" to growing industrial hemp. Many farmers want to grow this 5000 year old long fiber plant that has been turned into thousands of products since being domesticated by the ancient Chinese. That is their heresy. The enforcer is the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Washington, DC, which has placed industrial hemp on its proscribed list next to marijuana.

Detailed petitions signed by agricultural groups, agricultural commissioners, International Paper Co. and others were presented to both Clinton and Bush to take industrial hemp off the DEA list and let the states allow farmers to grow it. The DEA turned the petitions down cold.

The arguments for this great, sturdy and environmentally benign plant are legion. In over 30 countries where it is commercially grown, including Canada, France, China and Romania, industrial hemp has been used to produce hemp food, hemp fuel, hemp paper, hemp cloth, hemp cosmetics, hemp carpet and even hemp door frames (Ford and Mercedes).

Factories, food stores and paper manufacturers are free to import raw hemp or finished hemp materials from foreign countries. Last year, about $250 million worth of hemp products were purchased from abroad. But federal law in the US prohibits farmers or anyone else from growing it on US soil.

Why? The DEA says that industrial hemp grown next to marijuana can camouflage and impede law enforcement against the latter. Strange. This problem doesn't bother Canadian police authorities or similar officials in other nations. Besides, since industrial hemp is only 1/3 of 1 percent THC, growing it next to marijuana would cross-pollinate and dilute the illegal marijuana plants. No marijuana grower wants industrial hemp anywhere near his or her pot plots.

You can smoke a bushel of industrial hemp and not get high. Far too little THC. Like poppy seeds on bread. You may, however, get a headache, if you try.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew industrial hemp on their farms. Drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. Imagine the billions of trees and tons of bleach chemicals which would have been saved were hemp a big source of paper. A multi-billion dollar a year farm crop blocked.

During World War II, hemp was made into very strong rope for the war effort. The Department of Agriculture made a film "Hemp for Victory" to encourage more cultivation.

Enter Ron Paul, the courageous. Numerous colleagues of Rep. Paul, in both the House and Senate, believe as he does regarding the legalization of industrial hemp farming, but they are afraid to go public lest they be accused of being "soft on drugs". This is true, for example, of the North Dakota Congressional delegation, in spite of overwhelming private and public support for farmers being allowed to plant it in their spacious state.

On June 23, 2005, Congressman Paul introduced HR 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act. The bill requires the federal government to respect state laws (already five of them) allowing the growing of industrial hemp. Immediately, Congressmen Peter Stark (D - CA) and Jim McDermott (D - WA) co-sponsored the legislation.

HR 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005, would remove non-psychoactive industrial hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act and grant state legislatures "exclusive authority" to regulate the growing and processing of the crop.

Rep. Paul's announcement was made during lunchtime in the Rayburn Office Building at the House of Representatives. Denis Cicero, owner of the Galaxy Global Eatery in New York City, served up a delicious and nutritious luncheon featuring industrial hemp. Speaking were two leading North Dakota farmers, David Monson, also a state legislator, and Roger Johnson, the North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner. Their remarks were so compelling that in my remarks, I asked whether there were any DEA representatives in the audience who wished to reply. Nobody responded.

Last summer I shared a podium with Rep. Paul at a large gathering of organic farm and food enthusiasts in New England. It was a debate of sorts. At one point, I challenged the Congressman to apply his libertarian philosophy by introducing legislation to let farmers have the freedom to grow industrial hemp and sell it to manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. He immediately said he would. And he has done it.

There are those like former CIA chief, James Woolsey, who support growing hemp to reduce our reliance on imported oil. More broadly, industrial hemp advances the growth of a carbohydrate-based economy instead of a hydrocarbon-based economy.

Thomas Alva Edison, Henry Ford I and the presidents of MIT and Harvard dreamed of this transition during the nineteen-twenties. Unfortunately, the synthetic chemical industry of DuPont, Dow Chemical and others pushed this dream aside. The rest is the history of environmental damage, pollution-disease, geopolitical crises and many other external costs.

Please urge your members of Congress to support HR 3037. Free our farmers and you, the consumers, to move toward a more sustainable economy.

Visit: http://www.HempFarm.com and http://VoteHemp.com for more information.

 HempFarm.com Comments: Hemp for raw materials and oil as base material for food and construction is the only solution out of the unsustainable mess we have created.

Hemp was made illegal in 1937 through a conspiracy of prominent industrials and because of the perjury, lies, racism and blasphemy of a man named Harry J. Anslinger.