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Dear Reader,
Hemp farming legislation is once again at the
top of the news. The California Assembly has
passed
AB 684 by a vote of 41 to 29 (with 9 members not
voting). The bill now heads to the Senate. It is
reported that Governor Schwarzenegger has not yet
taken a position
on the measure. If you are from California, please
remember to write your Senator and ask her
or him to
support AB 684 and hemp farming in California.
Things did not fare so well for HB 424 in New
Hampshire. Once again, the hemp farming bill
there has been
killed in the Senate. Overcoming law
enforcement objections is key to
getting hemp bills passed, but simply adding
provisions to
overcome these objections does not seem to be
enough. We also need to overcome
seventy years of misinformation and a lack of
political will. Every failed bill is a learning experience,
and with education to overcome
ignorance and hope to overcome fear, New
Hampshire will eventually pass a hemp bill.
It has been said that hemp
can be used to produce more than
25,000 products, and we see it being
put to more and more uses every year. Products range
from
hemp-reinforced composite epoxy pallets to the
latest food trend, hemp milk.
These products and many more could (and should)
be made
from hemp grown and processed domestically.
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
| Soy's New Competition: Hemp |
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By Janet Cromley
Los Angeles Times
May 14, 2007
Like a bloodhound, Gira Balistreri is racing
through the palatial Whole Foods Market in El
Segundo, sniffing out some of her favorite foods.
A new employee at the 65,000-square-foot
flagship store, she goes directly to several
shelves of hemp shakes and snacks, then trots
over to tidy rows of hemp butter and oil,
then rushes down an aisle and snaps up a
fresh package of hemp tortillas on her way to
the hemp bars, hemp bread and hemp bagels.
"Hemp," she says excitedly, "is just an
awesome seed."
Balistreri isn't alone in her devotion. In
the last two years, sales of hemp food
products in markets and grocery stores rose
by more than 50%, propelling the unassuming
seed to an $8.6 million industry, according
to SPINS, a market research and consulting
firm for the natural products industry.
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| Hemp Milk Hits Store Shelves |
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WSYR-TV, ABC News
Syracuse, NY
May 9, 2007
Soy milk, almond milk and rice milk have a
new friend on the store shelf: hemp milk.
The non-dairy alternative just came out this
month. It's made from the nuts, or seeds, of
the hemp plant, and is already flying off
shelves nationwide. Is it worth it?
There's hemp protein powder, hemp bars, hemp
shakes, and hemp cereal. Now, there's milk to
go along with that breakfast meal.
There are 25,000 uses for hemp. Naturtyme's
owner Wendy Meyerson says you could live off
it, from clothing to food and even lip balm.
Hemp milk is another option for those
allergic to dairy or soy.
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| Possibilities are Endless for Newest Crop |
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Editorial
The Intelligencer
May 14, 2007
Dazed and Confused, Cheech and Chong ...
Dude, have you seen my crop?
You'll have to excuse Grant Moorcroft if he
tells you he's heard every pothead joke
around. And with good reason, he is, after
all, one of the area's most accomplished
growers of a strain of hemp that's all about
industrial as opposed to recreational.
With 30 acres of the crop, Moorcroft works
hard for the fibrous end product, and for
that any farmer of any crop would surely doff
his or her cap to him. Anyone who's tried
to take off a crop before the fields turn to
slop or the rains make the product unsalable
knows what a challenge farming can be.
Add to those inherent hurdles of agriculture
what must be an endlessly annoying task of
explaining and clarifying his crops for the
uninitiated — that and keeping dummies
who think you can smoke this hemp out of his
fields — and Moorcroft's got his work
cut out for him.
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North Dakota Hemp Heads Toward Federal Showdown |
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By Jordan Smith
The Austin Chronicle
May 11, 2007
The growing season in the northern Midwest is
fairly short. So a letter from the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration describing all the reasons
it's impossible to expedite the applications
of two North Dakota farmers seeking federal
approval to farm industrial hemp is, in
effect, a refusal to allow farmers there the
opportunity to cultivate hemp this year. And,
if history is any indication, the letter also
suggests it is unlikely the federal narcos
will ever allow cultivation to happen —
at least not without a fight. It is a fight
North Dakota's farmers are ready for.
In February, North Dakota Agriculture
Commissioner Roger Johnson traveled to
Washington, D.C., to deliver to DEA officials
two applications, filed by farmers who,
pursuant to new state regulations, had been
approved by Johnson to grow the non-narcotic,
environmentally-friendly crop. Johnson also
took along two separate checks given to him
by the farmers — each for about $3,000
— to cover the DEA's yearly,
non-refundable hemp-licensing application fee.
Since the growing season is already underway
and there are no signs that the DEA has made
any move toward reviewing the applications
— including one filed by
third-generation farmer and veteran
Republican state Rep. David Monson — it
appears the farmers have lost not only the
chance to grow hemp this year but also the
money they paid in an effort to gain [federal] approval.
[More...]
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