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Plainsman1963

Need to know
09-20-06 | WilmingtonStar.Com

N.C. lawmakers want to know whether there's money to be made in hemp, a plant related to marijuana.

A study of hemp's industrial uses was rolled into a long bill passed this summer by the N.C. General Assembly and signed last month by Gov. Mike Easley. The bill sets out rules and subjects for more than three dozen studies, ranging from health care to taxes to day care funding. Nearly all have December or January reporting deadlines. While many are authorized, not all of the studies get off the ground. And, as of Tuesday, no one had been appointed to the hemp commission.

Sens. Stan Bingham, R-Davidson, and Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, pushed for a study during this year's legislative session, arguing that hemp could save farm economies hit hard by tobacco's decline.

Other than study the issue, there is little the legislature could do. Standing in the way are federal regulations that prohibit cultivation without a hard-to-get U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration permit. Most industrial hemp used in the United States is imported, largely from Canada.

"Hopefully, with the study, North Carolina would be another supporter of industrial hemp," Bingham said.

- Mark Schreiner

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