Can CA Farmers Grow Hemp?
by TChris
Another tangle between state autonomy and federal supermacy is in the making, as Gov. Schwarzenegger decides whether to sign a bill authorizing California farmers to grow industrial hemp.
The rapidly growing plant with a seemingly infinite variety of uses is against federal law to grow because of its association with its evil twin, marijuana. ... But California is the first state that would directly challenge the federal ban, arguing that it does not need a D.E.A. permit, echoing the state's longstanding fight with the federal authorities over its legalization of medicinal marijuana.
You'll recall that California came out on the losing end of the medical marijuana argument. Yet the federal interest in uniformity of drug law enforcement is stronger than its interest in preventing farmers from growing a crop that adds nothing to the supply of illicit drugs.
The hemp bill would require farmers who grow it to undergo crop testing to ensure their variety of cannabis is nonhallucinogenic; its authors say it has been carefully worded to avoid conflicting with the federal Controlled Substances Act. ...
"It would take a joint the size of a telephone pole to have an impact," [Nebraska's agricultural commissioner] said.
It makes little sense that hemp can be imported but not grown.
Hundreds of hemp products, including energy bars and cold-pressed hemp oil, are made in California, giving the banned plant a capitalist aura. But manufacturers must import the raw material, mostly from Canada, where hemp cultivation was legalized in 1998.
Oregon succeeded in arguing that the Controlled Substances Act can't be stretched to regulate a local physician's decision to use drugs to assist a suicide as authorized by state law. California may be equally successful in arguing that the Controlled Substances Act shouldn't be stretched to prevent the cultivation of a useful plant that couldn't get a fly high.
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