Vote Hemp is a
non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance
of and free market for low-THC industrial hemp and to
changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to grow
the crop. We educate people on the issues
surrounding hemp, register
voters, and build
coalitions to fulfill our mission.
Vote Hemp is working to shift federal regulation of
industrial hemp back to the Department of Agriculture
(USDA) and out of the hands of the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA). You can find sample letters and easy ways to contact
elected officials; see the Vote
Hemp Action Center. The most important thing you can do is to make a contribution, bequest, and/or in-kind donation to Vote Hemp. Please tell
your friends to go to the Vote Hemp Web site and
use our service to write their legislators about the
hemp issue.
Click here and follow the instructions to contact your Representative and encourage them to support domestic hemp farming.
Please click here to see all current Vote Hemp Action Alerts.
If you are a webmaster, please click here to get HTML code for Vote Hemp Web Stickers and Alert Stickers.
Please sign up for our Vote Hemp Action Alert email list so you can keep up to date on the hemp issue. You can also sign up for our Hemp News Update list as well as state specific Action Alert Lists.
You can also keep current on hemp news by regularly checking our News Coverage page and please remember to check our State and Federal legislation pages for updates, especially during the legislative season!
The most common question we are asked is:
"What Can I Do To Help?"
Here are two simple ways to help industrial hemp blossom
in the marketplace: Buy hemp and vote hemp!
Buy hemp!
Hemp foods, which are rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty
acids, and hemp body care products are carried by large
chains such as Whole
Foods, Wild
Oats, and Trader
Joe's and by thousands of smaller independent natural
food chains, stores and co-ops, and even by some mainstream
grocery stores.
You can search for local retailers at HempStores.com.
Please buy hemp food products from TestPledge
Companies. We especially ask that you support Vote Hemp Supporters as without them we would not be able to do our work!
Outdoor retailers, ecological specialty stores and
some department stores carry hemp clothing and accessories.
You can see the wide range of hemp products available,
and their makers, listed in the Hemp Industries Association's
(HIA) Members/Product
Directory.
Vote hemp!
Be informed and please talk to your state and national
representatives about this important agricultural and
economic development issue. Educate them about the benefits
of hemp and ask them to support allowing American farmers
to grow industrial hemp. See how your favorite presidential
candidate came out on the hemp issue in the 2008 election
in our Voter Guide.
Talk to your friends and family about the benefits
of hemp for a sustainable economy and healthy environment.
For more information about hemp, please see below or
browse our Web site.
Numerous states have passed legislation supporting
industrial hemp. What's the status of your state? Click
here to find out.
What else can I do?
Helping to get hemp grown in the United States and
hemp products to succeed in the marketplace is E-A-S-Y.
Educate
Advocate
Support
Youth
Educate
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To learn more about hemp, please read The
Vote Hemp Treatise: "A Renewal of Common Sense:
The Case for Hemp in 21st Century America",
written by Erik Rothenberg, President of Atlas Corporation
and a Director of Vote Hemp, with the assistance
of various industry experts. This treatise lays
out a clear vision for industry and agriculture
and hemp's critical place in a healthy and prosperous
new world.
If you are pressed for time, we particularly recommend
reading the sections The Market for Industrial Hemp
(pp. 10-16) and Hemp vs. Marijuana - Rhetoric vs.
Reality (pp. 17-22). The former section outlines
in depth the tremendous potential hemp fiber and
seed have in diverse markets, which is important
to understand in the face of government propaganda
to the contrary.
The latter section clarifies that non-drug industrial
hemp is not marijuana although both are varieties
of the same species (Cannabis sativa), and refutes
categorically the specious arguments traditionally
used by law enforcement to justify the prohibition
of industrial hemp. Canada, Britain, France, Germany
and Spain, along with almost thirty other countries,
cultivate and process industrial hemp without affecting
the enforcement of those countries' marijuana laws.
The section concludes by showing a rational government
precedent in controlling the "opium poppy"
from which narcotics like heroin are derived, while
allowing non-drug poppy varieties of the same species
(Papaver somniferum) to be cultivated freely
in backyard gardens and the seeds of the "breadseed
poppy" variety to be consumed commonly on poppy
seed bagels, muffins and cakes.
To read A Renewal of Common Sense: The Case for Hemp in 21st Century America online please click here.
To download a copy, click here. (PDF file 63k)
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Read more about hemp here.
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Here is one of the best pages about hemp on the
Web: "Hemp:
A New Crop with New Uses for North America"
by Ernest Small and David Marcus. Also available
as a PDF
document (PDF file 14.1m).
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If you want to learn even more about hemp, please check out our Download Center. You can also
take a look at these Web sites: IndustrialHemp.net,
The Hemp Report
and the Canadian
Hemp Trade Alliance.
Advocate
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Educate others. Once you have read some of the
educational materials above and "Hemp
is Hip" our basic article about hemp, also
available as a PDF
document (PDF file 1.4m),
you can talk to other people about hemp intelligently.
There will almost always be some giggle factor to
it, a lot of people will say "Isn't that what
you smoke?" or "Isn't that only good for
canvas?" — but you will know better and
be able to explain the difference and hemp's great
promise.
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Do you own a hemp store or are you a retailer
that sells hemp products? Vote Hemp can provide
you with our tri-fold
brochures that educate people about hemp and
make an attractive display
on your checkout counter. We can also provide you
with a donation jar to collect contributions from
your customers. Some retailers even match those
collections each month. Please email
us with your request and we will set you up.
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Table for Vote Hemp. Many events allow people to set up card tables, hand out information, collect email addresses, and accept donations for non-profits. We can help you have a successful event. Please email us and we will set you up with some of the things you will need.
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Lobby your state and national representatives about this important agricultural and economic development issue. Educate them about the benefits of industrial hemp and ask them to support allowing American farmers to grow it. Now that H.R. 1866 has been introduced Vote Hemp needs support on the state level for this important piece of legislation. There are plenty of educational materials in our Download Center and there is a draft resolution our Hemp Resolution page. The resolution urges Congress to recognize industrial hemp as a valuable agricultural commodity and to pass legislation that removes barriers to state regulation of the commercial production of industrial hemp. This is also a great way to to educate legislators and get a hemp bill passed in your state in the future as well. You can write to your national representatives today at the Vote Hemp Action Center. If you need help finding contact information for your state representatives, please click here or email us and we will help you.
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Write letters in support of hemp to the editor
of your local paper. You can use the tools in the
Vote Hemp Action Center Media
Guide to help you locate your media outlets.
Support
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Please donate
to Vote Hemp and ask other people to donate
as well.
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Make an in-kind of goods or services to Vote Hemp. We have a wish list of things that we need. Can you help?
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Include Vote Hemp in your estate or will; please click here to learn more.
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If you are a hemp company, please consider joining the Hemp Industries Association.
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Ask your local natural foods or grocery store
to carry hemp foods. Buy them and encourage your
family and friends to also.
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Special order products that you like to use by
the case and give them as gifts.
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Carry and use hemp lip balm. This will remind
you every day about hemp and its many uses.
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Get a hemp wallet, checkbook cover and or/purse. You will use these things every day and it will remind you that you vote with your money. So Vote Hemp.
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Please support the companies that support Vote Hemp. We would not be able to to the work that we do without them or you.
Youth
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Ask your parents to register
to vote and remind them to vote on election
day. If you are old enough, register and vote yourself!
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Learn how to make hemp necklaces and teach others
in a class at your school, public library or youth
club.
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Write a paper on hemp for a class you are taking.
There is a lot of research
material available to quote as your sources
here on our Web site.
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Organize a hemp club at your school or college.
Vote Hemp can provide you with the educational materials that you will need.
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Do a hemp project for your 4-H club or any other
group. Hemp fed beef or chickens? A story board
for your State Fair? Your imagination will amaze
you!
The most important thing you can do is tell other people
about your support for growing hemp in the United States
and for buying and using hemp products. Please remember,
if we all work together on this important agricultural
and economic development issue, it will be E-A-S-Y.
So, go ahead and poke around the Vote Hemp Web site.
Our Site Map and Search
Tool should be of help to you.
If you want more ideas, can help us in any way or have
questions, please contact us.
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