Government wants industrial hemp lawsuit thrown out
From:
http://www.in-forum.com/ap
Government wants industrial hemp lawsuit thrown out
By Blake Nicholson, Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
InForum - Fargo, ND
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
BISMARCK, N.D. - The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to
dismiss a lawsuit filed by two North Dakota farmers who applied to
the Drug Enforcement Administration for permission to grow industrial
hemp.
The motion filed this week in federal court in Fargo says federal law
does not distinguish between industrial hemp and its hallucinogenic
cousin, marijuana. It also says Dave Monson, a state legislator who
farms near Osnabrock, and Wayne Hauge, a farmer from Ray in
northwestern North Dakota, do not have a case because the DEA has not
finished reviewing their applications and they cannot prove serious
harm.
Tim Purdon, a Bismarck attorney who represents the farmers, called
the DEA’s response “predictable and without merit.”
The farmers’ lawsuit, filed in June, asks a federal judge to
recognize that hemp can legally be grown in North Dakota through the
state licensing process, which was approved by the North Dakota
Agriculture Department late last year.
“The DEA continues to confuse industrial hemp and marijuana, and
pretends that they can’t allow states to regulate hemp farming,”
Purdon said Wednesday. “Both assertions are untrue and misleading.”
Purdon said he would file a response to the defense motion within a few weeks.
Monson and Hauge in February were issued the nation’s first state
licenses to grow industrial hemp, which falls under federal anti-drug
rules because it has trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical THC.
The North Dakota licenses are worthless without federal permission.
North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson hand-delivered
applications from the two farmers to the DEA in mid-February, along
with the farmers’ nonrefundable $2,293 annual federal registration
fees.
Johnson asked for a decision by April 1 so the farmers could get a
crop in the ground. The DEA said that was unreasonable because the
approval process included, among other steps, a 60-day comment
period, a background check of the applicants and a farm inspection.
Monson had planned to seed 10 acres and Hauge planned to seed 100
acres of industrial hemp, which can be used to make everything from
paper to lotion and is legally grown in several other countries
including Canada. It is too late in the growing season for the North
Dakota farmers to seed a hemp crop this year, and their state
licenses are good for only one season.
The DEA earlier rejected a request from Johnson that the federal
registration requirement for hemp cultivation be waived.
Copyright (c) 2007 Forum Communications Co. Fargo, ND
Stumble it!
