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Dear Reader,
Steady progress is being made in the effort
to restore
commercial hemp farming in the United States.
The budget impasse in California
has been broken, but not without massive
cuts in health and human services. AB
684, The California Industrial Hemp Farming
Act, passed the Senate Appropriations
Committee by a vote
of 9-1 on August 21. We are hoping for a
floor vote in the Senate soon, but typical
law enforcement propaganda is being pushed by
their lobbyists. If you have the time, please
listen to the KQED Radio show "Forum:
The Hemp Bill" to hear what we are up
against.
In North
Dakota work continues on prospective hemp
farmers Rep. Dave Monson's and Wayne Hauge's
lawsuit
against DEA. The U.S. Justice Department, of
which DEA is part, filed to have the case
dismissed. The quote of the week is from Tim
Purdon, the farmers' attorney in Bismarck,
who said in an Associated
Press story that the DEA's response was
"predictable and without merit."
It takes steady funding from Vote Hemp's
supporters to pay our lobbying and legal bills.
Please contribute
to the Vote Hemp Farmer Fund today and
join us in the fight to make growing
Industrial Hemp in the U.S. a reality.
We need and truly appreciate your support!
Best Regards,
Tom Murphy
Weekly News Update Editor
| Area Farmer Still Hopes Door Opens To Industrial Hemp |
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By Seth Nidever
The
Sentinel
August 28, 2007
A year ago, Stratford farmer Charles Meyer
was staring at his cotton and wheat fields,
imagining stalks of industrial help swaying
in the breeze.
He's still imagining.
A year after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
vetoed a bill that would have allowed farmers
to grow the plant -- a non-pyschedelic
relative of marijuana -- Meyer has his sights
set on a new version of the legislation that
on Thursday cleared the state Senate
Appropriations Committee in a 9-1 vote.
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| North Dakota Still Wandering Through Federal Hemp-Farming Maze |
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By Jordan Smith
The Austin
Chronicle
August 24, 2007
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has
just one day left to file its first response
to a federal lawsuit brought by two North
Dakota farmers who want to cultivate
industrial hemp – and who want the DEA
to back off and butt out – before the
Aug. 24 deadline. David Monson, a
third-generation farmer and veteran
Republican state representative from the
northeastern corner of the state, and Wayne
Hauge, also a third-generation farmer from
the northwestern corner of the state, filed
suit in Bismarck in June, in essence asking a
federal judge to tell the DEA that its power
to enforce drug prohibition (under the
federal Controlled Substances Act) does not
give it the power to regulate a purely
agricultural endeavor to cultivate hemp, the
nonnarcotic cousin of marijuana.
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| Government Wants Industrial Hemp Lawsuit Thrown Out |
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By Blake Nicholson, Associated Press
Writer
The Bismarck
Tribune
August 23, 2007
The Justice Department is asking a federal
judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two North
Dakota farmers who applied to the Drug
Enforcement Administration for permission to
grow industrial hemp.
The motion filed this week in federal court
in Fargo says federal law does not
distinguish between industrial hemp and
marijuana, which can cause mood changes when
smoked or eaten. It also says Dave Monson, a
state legislator who farms near Osnabrock,
and Wayne Hauge, a farmer from Ray in
northwestern North Dakota, do not have a case
because the DEA has not finished reviewing
their applications and they cannot prove
serious harm.
Tim Purdon, a Bismarck attorney who
represents the farmers, called the DEA's
response "predictable and without merit."
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High Hopes For Hemp |
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By Cassandra Willyard
Plenty
Magazine
August 2007
Dave Monson is not a druggie. He's a
mild-mannered farmer with three grown boys
and a seat in the North Dakota Legislative
Assembly. But in June, Monson and another
farmer took the nation's top drug authority
to court with the hope of winning the right
to grow cannabis.
Monson intends to produce industrial hemp,
not marijuana. The hardy crop requires few
chemicals, and the stalks and seeds can be
made into everything from paper to health
food to biofuels. Other countries like Canada
allow farmers to grow hemp. But because
marijuana and hemp share the same name,
Cannabis sativa, the US Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) lumps them both into
the same category — illegal.
"The DEA has been stonewalling for 10 years,"
says Monson. "We finally got to the point
that we had to do something. This [lawsuit]
is about the last resort."
[More...]
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