Pubdate: Tue, 20 Feb 2007
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Mark Leibovich
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)

THE HEMP VOTE

It is high time for bipartisan cooperation.

Representative Ron Paul, the libertarian Texas Republican, is 
sponsoring HR 1009, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007, a bill 
that would remove restrictions on cultivating nonpsychoactive 
industrial hemp on United States farms. Mr. Paul joins nine 
Democratic co-sponsors, including Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, 
the vegan Ohio Democrat, who, like Mr. Paul, is running for 
president. This could prove a burning issue in the 2008 campaign. Or not.

Hemp is a variety of Cannabis sativa, a plant commonly grown for 
industrial use around the world, but not in the United States. A more 
potent variety is known to pot smokers worldwide as marijuana. "It is 
indefensible that the United States government prevents American 
farmers from growing this crop," Mr. Paul said in a statement.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman