SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY

Industrial Hemp Supporters Wait on Federal OK to Grow

from the Oregonian (Registration Required)

Supporters had high hopes--sorry--when the 2009 Oregon Legislature legalized industrial hemp, but it appears the crop is growing nowhere fast.

Even though Oregon made it legal to grow and possess industrial hemp and to buy and sell hemp commodities and products, the federal government hasn't yet signed on. The feds still equate hemp with pot, and no one can grow it until they say so.

"It's rolled into the definition of marijuana at the federal level," said state Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. David Nelson, R-Pendleton. That may change. Hemp activists--including the CEO of a Portland company that makes food from the oil-rich hemp seeds--are lobbying Congress this month to legalize the crop.