Hemp

Maybe the third time is the charm. After going nowhere in 1999 and 2002, hemp legislation is moving at the Minnesota state capitol. A licensing bill has passed two committee votes despite law enforcement objections.

In November, voters in Hailey, Idaho, approved initiatives legalizing medical marijuana and industrial hemp and instructing the town to make marijuana offenses the lowest law enforcement priority. Now, the Idaho attorney general's office has found those initiatives to be "invalid" and the city is balking at implementing them.

A federal district judge in Bismarck has dismissed a lawsuit by two would-be North Dakota hemp farmers who sought to get the DEA out of their way. Congress should address the issue, the judge said.

North Dakota farmers who are suing the federal government for the right to grow hemp had another day in court Wednesday in Bismarck as federal prosecutors sought to get the case thrown out. A decision on that motion is expected by month's end.

Three out of four marijuana reform initiatives -- medical marijuana, hemp, and lowest law enforcement priority -- won in small-town Hailey, Idaho, but a taxation and regulation initiative was narrowly defeated.

After a three year struggle with recalcitrant local officials, a dedicated and persistent activist has managed to get a package of marijuana initiatives on the ballot in a small Idaho town.

A pair of North Dakota farmers have been granted state permits to grow hemp, but the DEA has refused to act on their federal license applications. Now the farmers are going to federal court to ask that the agency be told to butt out.

A bill that would eventually allow California farmers to grow hemp has passed the state Assembly and is expected to pass the Senate. Last year, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill.

The Georgia House has approved a bill that would ban the sale of marijuana-flavored candies to kids. If it passes the state Senate, the state would be the first in the nation to pass such a ban.

A Texas Republican has reintroduced his bill that would legalize hemp farming in the United States. This time, a Democratic Congress will consider the measure.