The Hemp Report

     The legislative season is now in full swing in a good number of states. Hemp bills have been carried over from 2007 in five states and are expected to see some action in committee soon. We have great hope for the Vermont hemp farming bill this year. The agriculture policy non-profit Rural Vermont is holding a week-long series of hemp events across the state this week to raise awareness and funds to help pass the bill.

     The "Hemp Week" lecture series and film tour features North Dakota Rep. David Monson and Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, as well as the films Hemp and the Rule of Law and Standing Silent Nation. For more information on "Hemp Week" and how you can help pass the hemp bill in Vermont, please see Rural Vermont's Web site.

     Over the past few weeks, there have been quite a few letters to the editor and editorials on hemp farming in newspapers, mainly in North Dakota. Most of the letters were in the Grand Forks Herald and The Bismarck Tribune. State hemp farming license-holder Wayne Hauge's piece "Industrial Hemp Poses No Threat" in the Grand Forks Herald on Sunday was a reply to earlier letters by certain opponents of all things hemp. Hauge and State Rep. David Monson have filed a lawsuit against the DEA to remove federal roadblocks to reviving commercial hemp farming in the U.S. Please read on for complete coverage of the exchanges.

     A letter by Earl Callahan to the editor of The Daily Star in central New York asks that we "Reinstate [the] U.S. Hemp Industry." In his letter "Hemp: Nothing Will Change" to The Minot Daily News, Jason Hysjulien pens this insightful observation: "One is left wondering if the DEA runs Congress or if Congress runs the DEA."

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