New State Law Will Allow Farmers To Grow HempJuly 19, 2009
By David Steves
Register-Guard
Salem -- Oregon is about to become the first Western state to permit its farmers to grow industrial hemp. But there are a couple problems to be confronted before Oregon becomes a Hemptopia by the Pacific:
It's still an illegal crop, according to the federal government. Oregon wasn't an ideal place to grow hemp the first time it was legal. And it won't be the next time, either.
That's not bringing Dena Purich down, though. The owner of a business that makes hemp-based clothing, Purich is excited about the possibility that the supply chain is one step closer to running from Oregon farmers to her Eugene-based Earthbound Creations. Right now, she and her two employees design and assemble men's sports shirts, women's skirts and other garments from hemp that's grown in China, woven or knitted there into 100-yard bolts, and shipped across the Pacific Ocean.
It would be awesome to keep everything in Oregon, she said. That would be great not only for our local economy, but for businesses like mine.
Local enthusiasm for hemp's possibilities was also evident at a three-day Emerald Empire Hempfest, featuring music, speakers and other entertainment, that wrapped up Sunday at Eugene's Washington-Jefferson Park.
A spokesman for Gov. Ted Kulongoski said he plans to sign Oregon's new hemp legislation, Senate Bill 676, into law. When that happens, Oregon will become the seventh state to allow farmers to grow hemp. And it will be the only one in the continental United States west of the Rockies. Hawaii's governor signed a similar law this month, and Maine's governor did the same in June.
Read more in Monday's Register-Guard.
http://drugsense.org/url/L8qc94HL
