Industrial Hemp Lawsuit Denied in Court

Two North Dakota farmers wanting to grow Hemp were rejection today by a federal Judge but that rejection may open other doors Judge Daniel Hovland dismissed a lawsuit filed by Wayne Hauge and Dave Monson The farmers wanted to bar the federal government from prosecuting them for growing industrial hemp Judge Hovland says the farmers should take their case to Congress and try to get hemp removed from the federal Controlled Substances Act Even though the lawsuit is dismissed it might have pushed the federal agency to finally act on NDSU s proposal Under state law the school is required to study hemp as an alternative crop The DEA has sent a memorandum of agreement to NDSU that would clear the way for hemp research North Dakota Ag Commissioner Roger Johnson says research may be what s needed to get the federal government approval of growing hemp as a crop Roger Johnson ND Ag Commissioner If NDSU starts doing research you re going to see farmers reviewing research and if it looks like this is a crop that is going to make money then of course there s going to be pressure And those stories NDSU publishes I bet they ll go nationwide because this issue has a lot of interest around the country Johnson says the U S is the only country in the world that doesn t allow the growing of industrial hemp