Hemp 1, DEA 0

[marmar]

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives on Thursday overcame last-minute lobbying from the Drug Enforcement Administration to pass a farm bill amendment that would legalize the growing of hemp for research purposes. The 225-200 vote came after a flurry of opposition from the DEA, which argued that it would be too difficult for the agency to differentiate legal hemp from illegal marijuana, both varieties of the cannabis plant.

The House amendment, proposed by Reps. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), is far more modest than a Senate effort by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to fully legalize growing hemp for industrial purposes. McConnell had hoped to have his measure inserted into the underlying farm bill or approved on a simple voice vote, but neither path proved open.

Polis said he'd been unsure whether the amendment would pass, but was gratified by the final tally. "We're having a hemp milkshake," he joked to HuffPost afterward. "Break out the hemp ice cream."

"On the merits, this is a no-brainer. Industrial hemp is an important product," he added. "It's perfectly legal, but currently we require that it be imported from other countries. Basically it's taking jobs away from American producers." .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/20/hemp-amendment_n_3472967.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037

[MindPilot]

1. Something reasonable from congress -- check the temp in hell!!

[marmar]

2. ........

[longship]

5. A very small town in Michigan.

Hell, MI (Wiki):
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_Michigan

[lob1]

3. If we grew hemp, we wouldn't need to use trees to make paper.

That alone would save thousands of trees, and the hemp could be regrown each year.

[kentauros]

4. I'd say it would save millions of trees.

Plus, in the southern states, hemp can be grown several times per year. Our seasons are longer and hemp grows fast!

I don't remember the exact statistic, but it seems like for the amount of paper pulp one acre of trees produces, you could get twenty times that in hemp cellulose. That's primarily because it takes twenty years to grow the trees large enough to be pulped for paper.

Maybe now, I'll be able to buy well-made American-made hemp shoes (currently have to mail-order out of the country for the same.)

[backscatter712]

6. The DEA's objections to industrial hemp are pure frivolty.

Industrial hemp is specifically bred to not have THC in it. You cannot get high by smoking it (of course, I'm also in favor of medical and recreational marijuana). The things that industrial hemp is good for is fiber for a thousand and one uses: clothing, paper, fuel, zillions of other products... Food products will not get you high either - they're good for foooood.

[RandiFan1290]

7. I just received my order from Manitoba, Canada

Then I saw this story

I got some hemp oil, hemp hearts, and hemp protein powder. Really yummy healthy stuff.

Time to grow up America!

[WovenGems]

8. Good idea

But doomed to a veto due to all the other crap attached to the farm bill.

[Uncle Joe]

9. Kicked and recommended for taking baby steps back to sanity.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[Bandit]

10. The Farm bill failed to pass though.

While it is good there was such an amendment, it is moot because the entire Farm Bill was voted down..