Judge to DEA: Stop being so asinine...let 'em grow hemp!
Three times, the Lakota Nation planted hemp only to have the DEA destroy their crop. In December, the 8th Circuit heard oral arguments made by lawyers defending the rights of the Lakota Nation. The specific issue at hand? Get the 8th Circuit to reverse a DEA-imposed injunction that disallows the Lakota Nation to grow industrial hemp.
As reported by the U.S. Newswire, the three panel judge focused on two areas:
(1) the irrationality of allowing the exempt parts of the plant to be imported into the U.S. but not allowing industrial hemp to be grown in the U.S. and (2) the lack of any rational permitting process by the DEA. While the Government's case was made, Judge Beam commented, "It seems asinine to me that they can bring in the Canadian stuff and use it but can't grow it." Beam also suggested that it did not make sense that Congress would try to make the economy of Native American tribes more enhanced by casino gambling but not allow industrial hemp cultivation.
With many States passing hemp legislation, the remaining stumbling block remains the lack of a DEA permitting process for legal hemp cultivation. The DEA claims that the current federal law does not distinguish between hemp and marijuana, therefore making a permitting process impractical (the lack of distinction in the U.S. Code has already been covered in HemperFi). Many believe that the DEA could create a permitting process without a change to the U.S. Code, although it's somewhat unclear. North Dakota's HCR3033, for example, certainly seems to suggest that Congress only needs to "acknowledge" (not legislate) industrial hemp cultivation as different from cannabis.
The 8th Circuit should be issuing their final decision in the coming months. Let's hope the comments of Judge Beam have had a lasting impact on the Court.
Comments
Very good reading. Peace until next time.
WaltDe
Posted by: WaltDe | September 1, 2006 02:16 AM
What I really would like to know is how we can stop and or I hope abolish the DEA and bring a little common sense to this lunacy. Here we are, a country that was 230 years old in July, with the biggest drug problem (which would not be a problem with the right legislation) in the world, the highest crime rate and the highest homeless rate in the world and we are trying to tell the rest of the world that their cultural values are wrong. I am in favor of the legalization of all controlled substances (with the government taking a fair share for tax) and then let's see what happens. This by the way is coming from a 60 year man and not child jibberish. I had really hoped that by the time I had reached this age that the people who rallied and marched with me back in the 70's and were so strongly against the government controls of that time would have helped to end them, but they now have fat bellies and sit around praising George Bush and his international police force. Guess I will die with the radical convictions that I held to be so right when I was young.
Posted by: Don Wilkerson | December 10, 2006 04:46 AM