The letter below is from Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL 5th District) to a Vote Hemp supporter in reply to a letter asking him to become a sponsor for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009.

Rep. Parker Griffith
(R-AL 5th District)

If you receive a reply from one of your elected representatives please email a copy of it to Tom Murphy, Vote Hemp's National Outreach Coordinator, at tom@votehemp.com. It will help with our lobbying efforts to know the contents of these letters. We will not publish your name or address and hold them in confidence.

May 24, 2010

Dear Constituent,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 (H.R. 1866). I understand your concerns regarding this legislation and I appreciate you sharing your concerns with me.

As you may know, H.R. 1866 was introduced by Representative Ron Paul on April 2, 2009, and is currently pending before the Committee on the Judiciary subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security for review. This legislation would amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of "marihuana".  It defines "industrial hemp" to mean the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a delta-nine tetrahydrocannabinol concentration that does not exceed 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis. It also would grant a state regulating the growing and processing of industrial hemp exclusive authority, in any criminal or civil action or administrative proceeding, to determine whether any such plant meets that concentration limit.

As your Congressman, I realize the importance of this issue to you, and I assure you that I will keep your thoughts in mind. Thank you again for communicating your concerns and I trust you will continue to share your views with me. To sign up for email updates, please visit North Alabama's Fifth District website at www.Griffith.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Parker Griffith
Member of Congress

The office of Representative Parker Griffith of the 5th District of Alabama is not responsible for any electronic transmissions that are not sent from the dr.griffith@mail.house.gov email address.