David Monson’s hard work may just pay off. After pushing the idea of growing industrial hemp in the United States for a decade, he is now applying to become America’s first licensed industrial hemp farmer in recent history. Last month, the state Agriculture Department finished a specific set of rules governing farmers who plan to grow industrial hemp. While the rules are needlessly complex, this does represent an important step towards the re-legalization of hemp. “I’m starting to see that we maybe have a chance,” Monson said. “For a while, it was getting really depressing.”

Although hemp has absolutely no hallucinogenic properties, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still must give its permission before Monson, or anyone else, may grow industrial hemp. The DEA will be his biggest hurdle. In the meantime, Monson will still need to provide two sets of fingerprints, provide latitude and longitude coordinates for his proposed North Dakota hemp field, and pay at least $202 in fees, including $37 to cover the cost of a criminal record check. Another hoop for Monson to jump through is the DEA’s annual registration fee of $2,293, which is nonrefundable even if the agency does not grant permission to grow industrial hemp.

North Dakota is one of seven states, along with Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, and West Virginia, that have authorized industrial hemp farming. Last year, California lawmakers approved legislation asserting that the federal government lacked authority to regulate industrial hemp as a drug. Though the law was popular in California, a state which produces 40 percent of the nation’s marijuana (the narcotic cousin to hemp), Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed it.

It should be noted that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp farmers who promoted the use of the crop, and that the consumption and sale of all cannabis was legal up until the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act led to its criminalization. The Declaration of Independence was even drafted on hemp paper. Visit Vote Hemp to learn more, and to support the acceptance of this multi-purpose crop.

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