Industrial hemp production licenses accepted by N.D. ag department |
The Jamestown Sun
| Jamestown, North Dakota
The North Dakota Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for 2009 industrial hemp production licenses.“The applications are due Jan. 1,” said Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson. “Although the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration continues to prevent holders of state licenses from growing industrial hemp, NDDA remains committed to fully implementing state laws authorizing the production, processing and sale of this crop in North Dakota.”
Johnson cautioned prospective growers that the process involves state and federal criminal background checks including fingerprints, together with associated fees and paperwork.
People interested in growing and processing industrial hemp should contact Ken Junkert at the North Dakota Department of Agriculture NDDA at 701-328-2231 or kjunkert@nd.gov. More information is also available on the NDDA Web site, www.agdepartment.com.
Of all the idiocies in the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs, the biggest is the ban on industrial hemp. Our government bans the cultivation of a non-drug plant because it is related to a drug plant. That’s kind of like locking up OJ’s cousin because he and OJ look alike.
You have to feel for these North Dakota farmers, watching their farm profits dry up while looking across the border to the North (literally) and seeing fields of profitable Canadian industrial hemp swaying in the breeze. For some reason, Canadian Mounties are so much smarter than US cops, because they can figure out which cannabis plants are drugs and which ones aren’t.
