Senator Kent Eken (DFL-Twin Valley) has introduced SF618, the Industrial Hemp Development Act.
Forum Communications' Don Davis reports in Hemp on agenda:
Now that Minnesota has approved use of medical marijuana, and some states allow recreational marijuana use, the plant’s cousin also may be in the spotlight.
The Minnesota Legislature this year could consider a limited use of industrial hemp. Nationally, hemp has gained some attention in recent months.
Sen. Kent Eken, D-Twin Valley, introduced a bill to allow researching the use of hemp, which can be made into ropes, clothes, paper and many other products.
“I think it has a decent chance because it has broad bipartisan support,” he said.
He said that his bill would allow “very limited” hemp production, with a study showing its success.
Canada sells $500 million worth of hemp products in the United States, Eken said, and his area of northwest Minnesota is a good place to grow the crop.
Law enforcement authorities long have opposed growing hemp because it looks much like marijuana and they fear that hemp could hide marijuana plants growing in fields. Hemp does not give people a high like marijuana.
Minnesota allowed hemp as a crop during World War II, Eken said, because it could be used to produce products the country needed during the war, but it returned to its pre-war unlawful status soon after the war ended.
Feral hemp was quite common growing wild in Nicollet and Le Sueur Counties when Bluestem's editor was a child; area farmers grew hemp during WWII for a processing plant in Hutchinson. Back when we were tykes, even small children knew that stuff couldn't get a fly high, so we're still puzzled about law enforcement's present confusion.
Eken is joined by fellow Democrats Lyle Koenen (Clara City) and Dan Sparks (Austin) and Republicans Branden Peterson (Andover) and Bill Weber (Luverne) in supporting the bill. As of yet, there's no House companion.
Photo: Guys harvesting hemp back in the day. You'd think the legislature could just legalize the crop and let Minnesota farmers compete in the marketplace. Hemp cloth,cosmetics, rope and other products are legal for sale in the state, but farmers other places cash in on its culture.
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