NFU Calls on Congress to Legalize Hemp

The National Farmers Union (NFU) held its 108th annual convention this week in Rapid City, South Dakota, to discuss and enact policy. Among its several resolutions, one was a call on Congress to take action that would legalize the cultivation of hemp in the US. As Farm Forum reports:

[...] significant policy proposals include a call upon Congress to direct the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to differentiate between industrial hemp and marijuana and adopt policy to allow American farmers to grow industrial hemp under state law without requiring DEA licenses.

Currently, it is legal to import, buy, sell and consume hemp products in the US, but it remains illegal to cultivate the plant. The reason is that US law does not distinguish between hemp and marijuana. As a result, even if state legislators permit hemp farming and issue a farmer a license, the DEA can still arrest a hemp farmer.

To date, 28 states have introduced hemp legislation and 16 have passed legislation. A total of 9 states have removed barriers to its production or research — including Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia.

Tagged as: national farmers union, nfu, us farmers, US hemp laws