Legislation

[Jimbo]

In 2005, we reached a major milestone ... for the first time since the federal government outlawed hemp farming in the United States, a federal bill was introduced that would remove restrictions on the cultivation of non-psychoactive industrial hemp. At a Capitol Hill lunch on June 23, 2005 marking the introduction of H.R. 3037, the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005," Congressional staffers were treated to a delicious gourmet hemp lunch while listening to various prominent speakers tout the myriad benefits of encouraging and supporting a domestic hemp industry.

The bill was written with the help of Vote Hemp by chief sponsor Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), and it garnered 11 additional co-sponsors. The bill defined industrial hemp and assigned authority over it to the states, allowing laws in those states regulating the growing and processing of industrial hemp to take effect.

Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007

On February 13, 2007 Rep. Ron Paul introduced H.R. 1009, the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007," with nine original co-sponsors: Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Jim McDermott (D-WA), George Miller (D-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

Please see our Federal Legislation page for much more information.

2008 Draft Resolution

State legislators, for more information about passing a resolution in support of industrial hemp please see our Hemp Resolution page.

Now that H.R. 1009 has been introduced Vote Hemp needs support on the state level for this important piece of legislation.

We have crafted a draft of a resolution, which is intended to be passed by state legislatures, that urges Congress to recognize industrial hemp as a valuable agricultural commodity and to pass legislation that removes barriers to state regulation of the commercial production of industrial hemp. This is also a great way to to educate state legislators and get a hemp bill passed in the future as well. You can download the draft resolutions in two different formats:

2008 Draft Resolution (PDF file 32k)

2008 Draft Resolution (Word .doc file 28k)

Vote Hemp: Information: Political: Legislation