N.D. Hemp Farmers Ask Judge for Ruling September 21, 2007 - Forbes
BISMARCK, N.D. - Two North Dakota farmers suing the federal government over the right to grow industrial hemp have asked a federal judge to rule they can legally do so under state regulations.
The motion for summary judgment by Dave Monson, who farms near Osnabrock and also serves as a state legislator, and Wayne Hauge, a farmer from Ray, is in response to a Justice Department motion filed in August asking that the lawsuit be dismissed.
The government's motion says federal law does not distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana, which can cause mood changes when smoked or eaten and is considered an illegal drug in the United States. Hemp can be used for many products, from rope to skin lotion.
Monson and Hauge are asking U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in Bismarck to declare that they cannot be criminally prosecuted for growing industrial hemp under North Dakota rules that were approved late last year.
"North Dakota regulations ... ensure there is no drug value in any part of the plant that could be diverted into the interstate market for recreational marijuana," said Tim Purdon, who represents the farmers in the lawsuit being funded by the nonprofit Vote Hemp group.
Monson and Hauge in February were issued the nation's first state licenses to grow industrial hemp, which falls under federal anti-drug rules because it has trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical THC.
The North Dakota licenses are worthless without federal permission, and the DEA has not acted on the farmers' applications that were hand-delivered by North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson in mid-February.
The opportunity for the North Dakota farmers to get a hemp crop in the ground has long since passed, and their $2,293 annual federal registration fees are nonrefundable. Their motion says that Monson and Hauge are "unwilling to risk federal prosecution of possession for manufacture or sale of a controlled substance."
The DEA said in its motion in late August that the farmers' applications were still being processed. It was not immediately clear if that was still the case Thursday. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The DEA said earlier that it was unreasonable for the farmers to expect a quick decision on their applications, because the approval process included, among other steps, a 60-day comment period, a background check of the applicants and a farm inspection.
Burton Johnson, an associate professor of plant sciences at North Dakota State University, supplied an affidavit to accompany the farmers' motion. It includes a letter he wrote to the DEA in July, stating that "cultivation of industrial hemp pursuant to state law will help promote technical advances in the cultivation of industrial hemp in the U.S."
Purdon said the DEA has 30 days to respond to the farmers' motion, which was filed Wednesday, and that he anticipates oral arguments in Bismarck late in the year.
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