North Dakota takes bold step forward on commercial hemp industry, tells feds to stay out

This is probably one of the more important state's rights issues to follow this year.

North Dakota wants an industrial hemp industry. They aren't stupid. Like a lot of people we've realized that hemp is a substance that can be used for almost anything. Making durable clothing, building materials etc etc etc.

Now North Dakota is removing the Fed Government from the equation with this latest bill. Not only are they going to start allowing the already in place state laws regarding hemp to be used, but will join more states who have the same mindset.

HuffPo

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) signed a bill into law on Friday that lays the groundwork for a commercial hemp industry and explicitly cuts the federal government out of the state's licensing process.

House Bill 1436 establishes guidelines for the state's industrial hemp program and allows people to apply to grow the plant for either research or commercial purposes. With its provision for commercial hemp, the law goes beyond the federal Farm Bill, passed by Congress last year, which allowed some states to cultivate the plant, but only for research purposes and in more restricted pilot programs.

The new measure builds on previous legislation that had legalized industrial hemp farming in North Dakota, but had gone largely unimplemented. Harsh federal restrictions on hemp have left some growers open to prosecution, making many states wary of pushing forward with cultivation. In addition to North Dakota, twelve other states have passed legislation to establish commercial industrial hemp programs, and a handful more have approved hemp production for agricultural uses or academic research. However, a number of those states have not actually moved ahead with officially establishing commercial hemp operations.

North Dakota will join the five states -- Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vermont -- that actually implement the hemp laws they have on the books. The Hemp Industries Association, a nonprofit trade group consisting of hundreds of hemp businesses, recently reported that those states collectively planted approximately 125 acres of hemp crops last year.

Probably the most important thing is as follows:

The legislation would amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana and would allow American farmers in all states to grow the crop. Neither version of the bill has received a vote.

Considering that there have always been a male/female version of this plant, with tremendously difference properties for either or, this will go a long way. Especially if this is all done in time, before a SCOTUS challenge by the Fed or other invested third party. ( such as the oil/gas lobby or textiles)

Thoughts ATS?

~Tenth

I'm glad to see it happen. I hope they go back to making egg cartons out of hemp and grocery bags. If I was in the States I'd be buying some land and get an investment group together and I'd start with the members here at ATS.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Considering that there have always been a male/female version of this plant, with tremendously difference properties for either or, this will go a long way. Especially if this is all done in time, before a SCOTUS challenge by the Fed or other invested third party. ( such as the oil/gas lobby or textiles)

One would think that it would go along way, and hell, maybe get passed in some form, but there will always be megacorporations that don't want it. The government will shut out scientists whom aren't tied to a megacorp, this megacorp scientist will try to pick every single miniscule reason and make them seem dire, even create findings with no study. Imagine this, "Hemp will ruin the soil, it will use too much precious water, it will attract bugs that kill (insert crop/animal), kids and grazing animals will have easy access to it, how will it be sold across state lines and transported, it needs to be taxed (did you know corn farmers pay no tax in NE for buying seed and pesticide?), wearing hemp while swety could get you and your children high, etc etc. and noone can refute this info so it won't be open for discussion" Some of the main reasons it was made illegal to begin with wasn't about just the smoking of it, but industrial hemp just like this.

In the years leading up to The marijuana Tax Act in 1937 big business and government had a mission to extinguish the use of marijuana. A few known proponents that had great pull by their political donations and overall wealth were; William Randolph Hearst, whom feared his paper company could lose millions if hemp was used instead, the DuPont Chemical Company, which produced many patented materials that hemp fiber could replace, and Andrew Mellon whom was Herbert Hoover’s Secretary of Treasury and primary investor in DuPont, whom also appointed his nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, to the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Hemp conceivably could be used as sustainable plastic production. possibly a biofuel like ethanol, clothes, rope, cardboard product, really limitless by own integrity. A little more history on the plant.(Or how the plant helped build America but is not mentioned ever because that was not the America the rich wanted)

The prominence and importance of the marijuana plant precedes that of America itself, allowing for colonists to cultivate the “weed” for the multifaceted utility that hemp provided. Hemp fibers were highly used for sturdy ropes, paper, ship sails, clothing, and medicine. Hemp is still used today and can be found for commerce sporadically, still being used in ways as the colonists relied on for survival for over 300 years. It was such an important plant that during the 1600’s farmers were offered high incentives by the governing body to produce the plant, and even fined those who didn’t (Weisheit, Smith, and Johnson, 1991). Hemp was allowed to be traded as legal tender in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. It flourished in domestic production, being sold within medicines and open to buy within pharmacies until in 1906, where it was first required to follow with a label among the product in which it was contained

a reply to: tothetenthpower

This NEEDS to be passed. Bringing hemp production back to this country would reinvigorate our manufacturing base. Something that is desperately needed. And the beauty is that hemp is SOOO versatile. You can use it for so many different things.

Basic Uses of Industrial Hemp: Food, Fuel, Fiber

a reply to: tothetenthpower

Good news to see it finally start to happen.

It's interesting to note, that because Hemp is SO useful in days gone by, it was actually illegal NOT to grow hemp.

Taxes used to be able to be paid in Hemp.

Oil from Hemp seeds can be made into high octane fuels for industry and for commercialisation, it can be made into a durable, endlessly recyclable plastic products.

The seeds can be used in livestock and Human foodstuff and feeds, and is highly nutritious.

The list of valuable uses of Hemp is almost endless.

The real opposition to industrial Hemp comes from lobbyists of corporations involved in producing products that would rival those derived by Hemp...paper, wood, textile / cotton plantations, oil and chemical industries and so on.

Hemp, it is an industrial wonder plant. I'm all for it and it's about time corporations and government stopped demonizing it as the "evil weed".

Even the psychoactive marijuana strains are far less destructive than alcohol and tobacco when used as a recreational drug. Withdrawal is far less severe and over dosing is near impossible unless it is highly potent then refined and used by sensitive people. It was propaganda that made it an illegal drug and destroy it's industrial uses. Not to mention that it is a "green" industry and can be grown almost anywhere.

It's benefits far out weigh it's potential to destroy our youth as some "gateway" drug and the boost to industry and tax revenue would be huge in my opinion.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

I'm all for state's rights and if N. Dakota wants to go that route so be it.

However, when visiting with a pot/hemp advocate at a bar, recently, I asked where this hemp was going to be grown-not having studied the subject-as any increase in hemp production would have to come at the expense of some other ag. product.

Her response was that the goal was to cut beef/cattle production by 50% and replace that land usage with hemp.
She said that was the direction society was going anyways. A steady increase in vegetarian/vegan diet would drop the demand for Beef.
No one messes with my steaks. That about the same area code as coffee....let's hear it for plastic....

a reply to: nwtrucker

Well it's not like the steaks are going away, they just aren't going to allocate as many resources to beef production as before as demand tapers off. Clearly, demand isn't going to drop to 0 though. I'm sure that you steaks will remain as they are even if this goes into effect.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: nwtrucker

Well it's not like the steaks are going away, they just aren't going to allocate as many resources to beef production as before as demand tapers off. Clearly, demand isn't going to drop to 0 though. I'm sure that you steaks will remain as they are even if this goes into effect.

You might even get better quality beef out of it honestly. Less to take care of, more care taken.

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

That's a fantastic point. Especially in this day and age where butchers will meat glue two or more pieces of beef together and call it a single cut.

Hemp is really easy to grow and you don't need a ton of land to grow an amount that would be hugely useful. They could easily just grow hemp in place of some of the "managed timberlands" that they grow now for paper. It takes trees 10-20 years before they're ready to be harvested for paper. You can harvest hemp for paper in 1.

If you prefer the trees to stay there and just have them not be cut down for paper, you could grow hemp instead of cotton in places as well.

If the only thing hemp gets used for is paper, there are still huge advantages.

Because of its low lignin content, hemp can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood. Its natural brightness can obviate the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no extremely toxic dioxin being dumped into streams. A kinder and gentler chemistry using hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine dixoide is possible with hemp fibers.

Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop.

Hemp can displace cotton which is usually grown with massive amounts of chemicals harmful to people and the environment. 50% of all the world's pesticides are sprayed on cotton.

Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation and oxygen production, carbon sequestration (reduces global warming), and other values.

Hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.

Source: naihc.org... - There are other interesting things there as well.

ETA: Thought I'd throw some more information in here about cotton and the benefits of replacing cotton with hemp.
Source: wwf.panda.org...

Water impacts
It can take more than 20,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton; equivalent to a single T-shirt and pair of jeans. 73% of global cotton harvest comes from irrigated land (as documented in the WWF report The Impact of Cotton on Freshwater Resources and Ecosystems).

Chemicals
Agriculture is the largest source of pollution in most countries. 2.4% of the world’s crop land is planted with cotton and yet it accounts for 24% and 11% of the global sales of insecticide and pesticides respectively.

Fed and big bussnes will fight it.
I hope they lose.
it will be the start of the death of the Fed

Our plan has been to move to south Carolina and get some land, and now I have an idea of what to do with it now. How awesome would that be , grow some hemp , ride some atv around and just have a good time

Even though Tn has a law on the books, it's turning into a nightmare!

My husband and father are very involved in this, and the Feds are definitely running interference! It's a huge bummer because the crops won't get in the ground for at least 6 weeks, at the best! It's the same S@%+ they pulled in KY, however KY's Department of Agriculture was willing to get involved and stand up for the farmers. Our head of Ag plans on running for governor, so he is being reluctant to take on the big guys.

a reply to: tothetenthpower


It's so bizarre that many Republicans oppose Hemp production because of their bias toward WEED. They think people will get high off of Hemp, and we'll have a drugged up society smoking pieces of rope and clothing.

a reply to: BatheInTheFountain

And they'll all have pounding headaches! Lol

One of our crops will be a friends entire front yard! Visitors will have to drive through (on the driveway) the field of hemp to get to her house!

a reply to: iDope

and don't forget te feds complete 180°turn making it legal again for a brief time

Seems like good common sense. I can't see it getting passed.

originally posted by: tothetenthpower

You might even get better quality beef out of it honestly. Less to take care of, more care taken.

I think there is good reason to assume this. Being an annual, one of the main benefits of hemp is its fast growing season but over time (as with all annuals) this creates a fertility depletion issue. I assume as the understanding of more resilient, sustainable food systems grow, our farming methods will become more sophisticated (a la Joel Salatin/Permaculture) and as a result industrialized fertilizer will see a sharp decline. Livestock-integrated designs will rise in popularity and you will be enjoying the lean, nutrient-dense beef that will result from a hemp/grass/cattle rotation program.

edit to add: www.hort.purdue.edu...

here is a link to a pretty exhaustive look into the use of hemp as a main crop...the last paragraph on page 312 of the report (page 29 of the pdf) briefly discusses known rotation strategies...2 pages below this is a section titled "Ecological Friendliness of Hemp" that goes a little more into the viability of hemp with regard to sustainability.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Yeah if there is anything that is in short supply in the government, it's common sense.