SEATTLE - Growing and selling recreational marijuana is legal in Washington, Oregon and Colorado. But growing hemp, a different species of cannabis, is illegal in the U.S. because it's still listed on the federal controlled substance list along with drugs like heroin and ecstasy.
There is a petition called Vote Hemp to remove industrial hemp from the Controlled Substance Act via the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015, Senate Bill 134 & H.R. 525.
Products made with hemp, like clothes and food items, can be sold legally in the U.S. But farmers in the U.S. can't grow it. Ninety percent of the hemp is imported from Canada and the rest from China.
"Why is it that these incredibly valuable products -- natural, sustainable products -- are lining our shelves but U.S. farmers can't grow it Oregon, Washington and Nebraska," said Joy Beckerman Maher with the Washington State Chapter of the Hemp Industries Association.
Maher is at the forefront of the petition to remove hemp from the federal list of controlled substances. Supporters call the law outdated and argue industrial hemp is safe and not an addictive drug.
The bill is gaining momentum in the House of Representatives. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., have thrown their support behind the bill. But in the Senate, it's not gaining as much support with only nine prime and co-sponsors, none which include Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., or Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is pushing for the ban to be lifted.
"The federal ban on hemp amounts, in my view, to a restriction on free enterprise and it doesn't accomplish anything but stifle job creation and economic growth. We are the world's largest consumers of hemp products but we are the only major industrialized nation to ban hemp farming," said Wyden.
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