Farmers Sue Federal Government for Right to Grow Hemp

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Lancaster Business Owner Supports Hemp Efforts

CHRIS TORRES
Staff Writer

A lawsuit filed by North Dakota farmers this week has brought attention to the potentially lucrative but controversial crop, hemp.

Political leaders, farmers, and hemp advocates held a telephone news conference Monday in which it was announced that farmers in the state filed a lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the federal agency charged with enforcing illegal drug activity in the U.S., for the right to grow hemp, which is related to the illegal drug, marijuana, but is already widely used as an ingredient in various food and industrial products. The lawsuit is being funded by the hemp action group, VoteHemp.com.

According to North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, the lawsuit comes as a result of what he said is “unfair” treatment of farmers by the hands of the federal government, after he thought the state and feds came to an agreement on the issue just a year earlier.

North Dakota is one of a handful of states that has legalized the growing of hemp for industrial use, although the growing of hemp is considered illegal at the federal level.

State officials have been working on creating a licensing and regulation program to oversee the industry. According to Johnson, officials met and got approval from DEA officials in February of 2006 to move ahead with the program.

On Jan. 1, state officials approved a licensing procedure that would require any interested farmer to go through a criminal background check as well as provide state officials with GPS coordinates of their hemp growing plots and round-the-clock access to the fields.

Soon after, the state approved two license applications and sent the information to the DEA. But according to Johnson, the state has yet to receive an answer to the applications, something he calls a “defacto denial of the applications.”

Without DEA approval, Johnson said farmers could face criminal prosecution and stiff fines for growing the crop.

“It is my strong opinion that DEA has got to get off this kick that marijuana and hemp are the same,” Johnson said. “Industrial hemp is just another crop that farmers should be able to plant.”

While hemp comes from the same plant family that produces marijuana, supporters of the crop say the plant, in its best form, is best used as an industrial product that can be used to make food and building products.

Steve Robertson, special agent with the DEA, said the agency enforces federal law which states hemp and marijuana are one in the same because they both contain levels of the hallucinogenic drug, THC, which causes the “high” a typical person would get after they smoke the plant.

But supporters of hemp production say the levels of THC in industrial hemp plants are much lower than that of true marijuana plants and that the differentiation between the two has to be made.

Most industrialized nations, including Canada, allow the controlled growing of industrialized hemp.

Dave Munson, a farmer and state legislator in North Dakota, said the plant has big profit potential for farmers, netting as much as $250 per acre.

Munson added the plant could also be an excellent deterrent to Fusarium head blight, a disease that attacks grain crops such as wheat and barley and thrives in wet conditions.

Johnson said the disease cost farmers across the Midwest more than $1 billion in lost profits over the late 1990s. He said hemp could work by breaking the disease cycle in the crop. “That is very critical to us, especially considering we are expecting a very wet year,” Munson said.

Maryland is the only state in the Mid-Atlantic to authorize the growing of hemp.

In 2000, Maryland’s General Assembly approved the growing of experimental hemp in state owned land.

According to Sue duPont, spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the plan was to see if hemp could replace the state’s once lucrative tobacco industry that was particular big in the southern part of the state.

But objections from federal officials prevented the program from ever getting off the ground and in 2004, the program was abandoned.

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has historical ties to hemp production and today, one of the nation’s leading hemp companies is located in the county.

According to historians, hemp fields were once scattered all over the fertile land of the county. The plant was used by farmers to make clothing and food.

There is even a township in the county, Hempfield, which is named after the county’s rich history with the plant.

Supporters of the crop believe hemp is a nutritious plant that can be used for a multitude of things.

Among those supporters is Shawn House, the owner of Hempzels in Lancaster.
House said the crop is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and vitamin E.
He has developed a long line of hemp products through the importing of shelled hemp seeds from first, China, and now from Canada. Products include sourdough pretzels, sausage, shakes, and mustards. But he said hemp can also be used to make clothing, fuel, and in some cases, cars.

His products have found a market at health food stores, including Whole Foods.

“Hemp is now becoming more visible and people are understanding the benefits of it,” House said.

With its fertile soils and temperate climate, House said Lancaster County would be the perfect spot to grow hemp.

But his vision of seeing the county rich in hemp fields will only occur, he said, when the passing of a law that differentiates between hemp and marijuana is passed.

Bill 1009, otherwise known as, “The Industrial Hemp Act of 2007,” would do just that. But it is getting only minimal support from congressional representatives.

Still, House hopes to revive the once vast hemp fields in the county. He sits on the board of the Hemp Industry Association and is an adamant supporter of the North Dakota lawsuit. “What we need to do is repeal the restrictions,” he said. “We need to pass a resolution that clearly defines that hemp is not marijuana. It’s not right. It’s not the same thing.”