Hemp legalization effort gathers steam

By Juliet Eilperin
Source: washingtonpost.com


Hemp Seeds


Hemp field

In the cannabis plant family, hemp is the good seed. Marijuana, the evil weed. Michael Bowman, a gregarious Colorado farmer who grows corn and wheat, has been working his contacts in Congress in an attempt to persuade lawmakers that hemp has been framed, unfairly lumped with the stuff people smoke to get high.

Somehow over time, as Bowman’s pitch goes, hemp, which is used to make paper, oils and a variety of useful products, was mistaken for its twin, marijuana — a.k.a pot, chronic, blunt and weed — a medicinal drug loaded with tetrahydrocannabinol that buzzes the mind. Hemp got caught up in the legendary crusade against pot popularized by the movie “Reefer Madness.” All varieties of cannabis ended up on the most-wanted list, outlawed by Congress as well as lawmakers in other nations, inspiring people to kill it on sight.

Bowman’s message is simple: Be sensible. “Can we just stop being stupid? Can we just talk about how things need to change?”

While the United States ranks as the world’s leading consumer of hemp products — with total sales exceeding $43 million in 2011 — it is the only major industrialized country that bans growing it, even though 11 states have passed measures removing barriers to hemp production and research. Ninety percent of the U.S. supply comes from Canada.

Since Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana by ballot initiatives last fall, a group of farmers and activists have been pushing to revive a crop they say offers a solution to vexing environmental, health and economic challenges.

Proponents value hemp both for how it grows — quickly and in a wide geographic range, without requiring much in terms of water, pesticides and fertilizers — and what it can produce. Its seeds and oil are fodder for health and beauty products, while the strength of its natural fiber makes it a good candidate to be used as a building composite. Combine hemp with water and lime and you get “hempcrete,” which can help construct a house; process it differently and it can make up a BMW’s interior door panel.

But Bowman’s project to plant 100 acres of hemp on his 3,000-acre farm on April 30 — to coincide with the 80th birthday of his friend singer Willie Nelson, known for his support for hemp and marijuana legalization — could run afoul of the Agriculture Department’s farm program, which helps subsidize his corn and wheat. He also grows edible beans, alfalfa and, occasionally, sunflowers. 

Hemp stalks ready for harvest. 

In a statement, Agriculture Department spokesman Justin DeJong said that since hemp is considered “a Schedule I controlled substance” under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, it “cannot be grown on farmland” receiving federal commodity subsidies. If convicted of a violation, a farmer cannot get subsidies for five years.

Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne said in a statement that the controlled-substance law refers “to all cannabis plants, regardless of their THC content,” and that only marijuana growers with a DEA permit can grow it.

It didn’t used to be this way. In the colonial era, Benjamin Franklin published an article touting hemp’s virtues, and Virginia farmers were allowed to pay their taxes in hemp. A USDA botanist grew a half-dozen varieties of hemp on federal property in the 1920s. The U.S. government urged farmers to grow “Hemp for Victory” during World War II to provide the raw material for ropes, sailors’ uniforms and other supplies.