I'm not much into marijuana, but I personally think hemp would be a marvelous cash crop for many farmers in America. So I was pleased when I read recently that a federal judge had given a short tongue lashing to the Drug Enforcement Agency because the agency was still "considering" a request from North Dakota State University to carry out some research into the agricultural potential of hemp even though the application was now eight years old.

The Prairie Star reported recently that NDSU may soon be able to move forward with hemp research. North Dakota's state legislature instructed the land grant university to look into hemp production back in 1999 and the university has been mostly waiting on the DEA ever since.

Farmers in neighboring Canada have been growing hemp as an industrial crop for a decade now.

According to The Prairie Star, the DEA is now acting on the application because of "a federal judge admonished the agency for its non-action." The admonition came as part of the ruling on a lawsuit brought by two North Dakota farmers who wanted to grow industrial hemp. They lost the suit, but they are appealing that verdict according to news sources. At issue in the lawsuit is the question of whether marijuana and hemp are the same thing, which is something like fighting about whether Yorkies and Great Danes are the same thing...

Whether the farmers win or lose that argument in court, the North Dakota state legislature has now appropriated funding for industrial hemp a least a couple of times and seems to support state farmers who want to grow the crop.

UK420 described the agricultural benefits of the crop:

Producers found hemp to be a profitable oilseed crop with large worldwide demand. Hemp is also a good rotational disease-breaker, particularly for scab which plagues northeastern North Dakota farmers.

That article goes on to describe efforts in the US Congress to clear up the issue.