Movin' To North Dakota Soon Gonna Be An Industrial Hemp Tycoon




Well, maybe I could. Proposed Senate Bill 2099 would allow oilseed processors to crush industrial hemp seeds in North Dakota. The North Dakota Ag has already been licensing farmers to grow industrial hemp. In fact, one of North Dakota's Reps received the first license.

Still, there seems to be one tiny obstacle. The DEA. Because industrial hemp and marijuana are classified as the same plant by the US government (30 other industrial nations recognise the difference), the DEA would never allow industrial hemp to be grown without an obscene amount of rules. Still, North Dakota is trying to ensure the DEA that they could monitor the plant from seed to processing.

What a headache for such a harmless plant. Any high school kid from the Midwest can tell you that industrial hemp, or ditch weed as we called it (volunteer hemp plants leftover from the war effort in the 1940's), contains so little THC that one would have to chain smoke countless joints to get any sort of buzz. Even then, one would probably be experiencing a high from smoke inhalation. Scientifically speaking, industrial hemp contains between .05-1% THC while marijuana contains between 3-20% THC.

So what is the DEA really afraid of? Could there perhaps be some other parties, oh I don't know, like corporations, that are trying to suppress hemp from returning. After all most people today have begun learning the benefits of hemp. It is estimated that there are over 25,000 uses. Here are few:

*The oil produced from the seed is one of the healthiest oils on the market. It contains the highest levels of polyunsaturated fat and amino acids such as linoleic acid.

*The plant is very resistant to pests requiring no use for pesticides, insecticides, or fungicides.

*There is great potential for creating renewable fuels from hemp (both from the oil and cellulose). In addition, because growing it uses so little chemicals and absorbs so much carbon, growing hemp would reduce carbon emissions thus helping to fight global warming.

*It's the toughest fiber-allowing for countless possibilities of clothes (from linen quality to canvass), paper, and even boards. All this from a plant that grows 1 ft a week.

*For more facts on industrial hemp visit the NAIHC website. With such a wealth of information, there's no need for me to attempt regurgitation.

I feel it's long overdue for the United States to come to its senses and allow hemp to bail us out on some things. Canada legalised industrial hemp in 1988, it's high time for the US to follow-no pun intented, yeah actually there is.