A coalition of farmers, businesses and environmental groups urged the Bush administration this week to reconsider a petition filed with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting they adopt regulations permitting farmers to cultivate industrial hemp.
“At a time when the American farmer is facing a devastating farm crisis and farm states across the country are passing pro-industrial hemp legislation, banning this crop shows a disregard for America’s genuine interests,” charged Leda Huta, director of the Resource Conservative Alliance, which is coordinating the effort. “We want the Bush administration to take a fresh look at this issue and at the value of industrial hemp for America’s economy and environment.”
More than 25 organizations, including The Body Shop, Rainforest Action Network, and Patagonia Inc., filed a petition with the Clinton administration in 1998 calling on the DEA to remove hemp from the list of Schedule I controlled substances because it is neither a drug nor psychoactive. The DEA denied the petition on December 19, 2000 a decision that critics maintain is “short sighted” and disregards the nation’s best interest.
Several countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, India and Japan, grow hemp for its fiber content. In America, eleven states since 1996 have passed laws or resolutions supporting the formation of a legal U.S. hemp industry, and ten others are considering similar measures this year.
Although the hemp plant belongs to the genus Cannabis sativa, it contains only negligible amounts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation Executive Director, at (202) 483-8751. For more information on pending hemp legislation, visit: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/.
