Industrial Hemp IS NOT "Marihuana"

Hemp has been grown in America through most of our history. It is used for oil, rope, clothes and thousands of other products.

Some fear that marijuana growers will mix their plants in with the hemp. But the industrial hemp I’ve seen pictures of is tall and spindly, and looks nothing like bushy marijuana. Hemp has virtually none of the active ingredient that produces the high.

Marijuana growers would never mix their plants with hemp because the cross-pollination would drastically lower the drug content. But industrial hemp production remains illegal.

The Virginia legislature passed a resolution in 1999 endorsing the monitored experimental growing of hemp in Virginia, although none has been grown. North Dakota officials sued the U.S. government seeking permission to grow hemp. Their neighbors in Canada have been growing hemp for a decade and have been shipping millions of dollars worth to the U.S. for thousands of products.

Hemp is grown worldwide with no problems of it being used for illegal purposes. There’s no rational reason to keep U.S. farmers from growing this multi-purpose crop.

Excerpt from an article by:
Robert Legge - Editorial Columnist, rjma@hughes.net
Titled: Government-regulated marijuana might be America’s best option
Published: May 7, 2009

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