Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Farmers will file lawsuit against DEA over hemp

Farmers will file lawsuit against DEA over hemp

Jun 16, 2007 - 04:05:52 CDT

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Two North Dakota farmers will file a lawsuit against the federal Drug Enforcement Agency next week in their ongoing fight over the approval of industrial hemp production, the state's agriculture commissioner said Friday.

Commissioner Roger Johnson said farmers Dave Monson and Wayne Hauge will file the lawsuit on Monday.

Earlier this year, the state issued licenses to the farmers to grow industrial hemp, a cousin of marijuana that falls under federal anti-drug rules even though it does not produce a high. But the state licenses are worthless without DEA permission.

In February, Johnson hand-delivered to the DEA the applications from Monson, a state lawmaker who farms near Osnabrock, and Hauge, a farmer from Ray, along with the farmers' nonrefundable $2,293 annual federal registration fees.

Johnson asked for a decision by April so the farmers could have time to plant the crop. But that did not happen.

Johnson said he could not disclose details about the lawsuit, but offered his own opinion on the DEA's lack of action.

"I think people are genuinely very, very frustrated with DEA," he said.

Monson and Hauge could not be reached Friday for comment on the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the DEA said she could not comment on the lawsuit because it has not been filed.

Review of the farmers' applications is ongoing, spokeswoman Rogene Waite said.

"My understanding is that they are still in process," she said.

Johnson repeatedly has said he is upset that DEA refers to industrial hemp as marijuana and won't distinguish between the two.

"To me, that is the biggest single issue here," he said.

News > State

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Comments

w13na wrote on Oct 4, 2007 8:36 PM:

" Y is alcohol legal? more people die from alcohol than marijuana. you can't od from this herb. there should be a law stating that only maryjuana can be be used at home. "

Senator Tim Mathern wrote on Jun 18, 2007 10:23 AM:

" I am glad to see Commissioner Johnson's leadership on this. The more we can diversify our agriculture the more we can assure a steady farmer budget and state buget. Senate Tim Mathern, Fargo "

Go With Hemp wrote on Jun 18, 2007 8:08 AM:

" Sadly, Pomeroy, Dorgan, and Conrad have been silent on this issue. I have to believe that they are raising the wet finger testing the political winds on this one. For far too long hemp and marijuana have been talked about as if they were one and the same, when of course they are not. At a time when the nation and the world is seeking alternatives to fossil fuels, it seems to me to be outrageous that our Congressional Delegation has been silent. Hemp is a renewable resource, can be used for fuel, food, paper, cloth, and a host of other uses--and none of it has anything to do with pot. Republicans and Democrats in the state have North Dakota have stood tall in support of this, so why in the world the deafing silence from Conrad, Dorgan, and Pomeroy. C'mon fellows, show the same guts you rightly exhibit on other issues! North Dakota and the nation stand to benefit! "

the man wrote on Jun 17, 2007 11:24 PM:

" Should have know Riffraff would have put his two cents in. "

proud North Dakotan wrote on Jun 16, 2007 7:04 PM:

" My hat is off to Commissioner Johnson. He sees something that has a giant possibility of benefiting the states agriculture industry. Go for it Roger. Make N.D. a benchmark case for growing hemp in the U.S. "

riffraff wrote on Jun 16, 2007 3:55 PM:

" Just remember, Dennis Kucinich (D) and Ron Paul (R), cosponsors of the Hemp Farming Act of 2007 (http://www.votehemp.com/PDF/Hemp_Farming_Act_2007.pdf), are considered the "crazy" presidential candidates that have no shot in 2008. And, one of their wacky ideas is that marijuana and hemp are not the same things. Insanity indeed. "

Mike R wrote on Jun 16, 2007 11:10 AM:

" Problem number 1 is that the DEA is a government agency - and a federal government agency at that. Can anyone think of a slower acting, more resistant to change, arrogant, and anti-logic agency than one ran by the federal government? The problem is simple to identify. The solution is a bit tougher. "

Hemp Production wrote on Jun 16, 2007 10:44 AM:

" As I have written before concerning the growing of Hemp in North Dakota or any other state, for that matter, all the states can approve the planting and production of Hemp, but until your U.S. Congressmen are contacted and forced to make changes in the D.E.A. Department, this action will go nowhere. The U.S. Congress sets the standards with all government agencies, the D.E.A. included. Farmers will be just "banging their heads up against a brick wall" unlil Congress changes the laws regulating the D.E.A. and the planting of Hemp in the U.S. "

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