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Dear Reader,
Well, the past week was definitely a "two
steps forward, one step back" or, depending
on how cynical you are, a "one step forward,
two steps back" kind of week. The decision by
the U.S. District Court in Bismarck, North
Dakota in favor of the DEA's motion to dismiss the
ND farmers' lawsuit (Monson v. DEA) was disappointing, but it
really wasn't all that
surprising.
There is an old Japanese proverb that says "a
frog in a well cannot comprehend the ocean."
It seems that those with the power to revive industrial
hemp farming in the United States see the crop as
does a frog in a well. We need to find
effective ways to educate them and help
them to see the ocean by changing their
world-view.
You can help people better understand this issue by
doing small
things, like commenting on news stories that contain
errors, as I did recently concerning the story "Yesterday's
News: Effort Aimed at Helping World War II
Eventually Turned into 'Dread Menace'."
Ten minutes a day adds up to sixty hours a
year. Ten minutes does not seem like much, but the
impact can be huge. Similarly, your individual efforts
may not seem so significant, but multiply those by
thousands of people, and things will change. If you
need some ideas,
please check out the ten Quick Links in this
newsletter (at right), including our new
StumbleUpon page.
Going to Congress may seem like the easy answer,
but
the likelihood of it acting without some
sort of miracle seems remote, especially during
election time. North Dakota Ag Commissioner
Roger Johnson noted this in the
latest ND Department of Agriculture press
release, as did The Minot Daily
News in their editorial "Congress
Should Solve Hemp Issue — But Will
It?" Long-time hemp supporter and Hawaii state
legislator Cynthia
Thielen expanded on this thought in her
commentary "Irrational
Fear Sustains Taboo on Handy Hemp" in the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Where does this leave us? The legal team for
the North Dakota farmers, Dave Monson and
Wayne Hauge, is looking at all options and
is considering appealing the Court's
decision. Of course, all of that takes money.
Please make a contribution
to Vote Hemp today to help us continue fixing the
situation here in the U.S.
We need and truly appreciate your support!
Best Regards,
Tom Murphy
Weekly News Update Editor
| NDSU Weighing DEA Proposal on Hemp |
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By Blake Nicholson, Associated
Press
The Bismarck
Tribune
December 2, 2007
North Dakota State University (NDSU) has been
waiting nearly a decade for federal
permission to grow industrial hemp, but
university officials say it could cost them
more than $50,000 to install 10-foot-high
fences and meet other requirements.
NDSU officials are not rushing to decide on a
proposal from the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) that would seem to pave the
way for hemp research in North Dakota.
The proposed "memorandum of agreement" was
delivered by DEA officials last month to
Burton Johnson, an associate professor in
NDSU's plant sciences department.
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| Hemp: The Little Plant that Could |
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By Marisa Belger
MSNBC
November
26, 2007
Hemp's got a bad reputation. So bad, in fact,
that commercial production of the plant is
actually banned in the U.S. It seems that a
large part of the problem is its close
relation to another plant of the illegal
smoking variety. This guilt by association is
really too bad, because the multifaceted hemp
plant can be transformed into numerous items
— like paper, food, fuel, beauty
products, clothing and accessories —
that make our everyday lives better. And hemp
does it all with minimal damage to the
planet. Yes, this is one eco-conscious crop.
Industrial hemp — the name of the
utilitarian strain that won't get you high
— is another breed of the infamous
Cannabis sativa. It has been given the
"eco-friendly" label because it has a
relatively short growth cycle of 100-120 days
(so it's easily renewable) and the entire
plant can be put to productive use. The core
of the plant, or the hurd or shive, has been
used in the creation of a concrete-like
substance for the construction of homes. Oil
from the seeds is used in beauty products and
as a food. And the fibers are used in
clothing, rugs and upholstery. For decades,
numerous countries (the U.K., China, the
majority of the European Union and even
Canada — but not us!) have been turning
to hemp for use in thousands of products.
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| Norwich Store Brings Hemp Clothing to Area |
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Barbara Collins, co-owner of Solstice Whole
Foods & Herbs
By Tom Grace
The Daily
Star
December 1, 2007
There's something new for sale in Norwich.
Since mid-November, Solstice Whole Foods &
Herbs on South Broad Street has been selling
clothing made of hemp, a crop that cannot
legally be grown in the United States because
it is related to marijuana.
"It's been getting a lot of attention, and
we're selling quite a bit of it," Barbara
Collins, the store's co-owner, said Thursday.
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Judge: Congress Should Decide on Hemp |
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David Monson of Osnabrock, a farmer and
North Dakota state legislator.
Photo credit: Marvin
Baker/MDN.
BISMARCK, ND — A federal judge has
dismissed a lawsuit two North Dakota farmers
filed against the federal government in an
effort to grow and harvest industrial hemp
without reprisal.
Judge Daniel Hovland stated in his 22-page
judgment Wednesday that Wayne Hauge of Ray
and David Monson of Osnabrock should allow
Congress to settle the issue of whether
industrial hemp is a legal agricultural
commodity or a controlled substance.
Hovland said the Industrial Hemp Farming Act
of 2007, introduced in the House of
Representatives in February by Rep. Ron Paul,
R-Texas, was designed to address the current
issue. Hovland referred to the act numerous
times during a Nov. 14 hearing. It has yet to
be debated.
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