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Johnson asks DEA to waive registration for hemp growers
12-27-06 | Farmandranchguide.com

North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson has asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to waive individual registration for newly-licensed, industrial hemp producers in North Dakota.

"We expect to be issuing state licenses by February," Johnson said Wednesday. "It's then up to the license holders to register with DEA.

Unfortunately, the DEA's registration process is so confusing and the registration fees are so expensive that many producers will be discouraged from growing the crop."

The annual, non-refundable fee is $2,293.

Johnson urged DEA administrator Karen Tandy to move quickly to waive the registration so farmers could plant industrial hemp this spring, and to let North Dakota, with DEA's guidance, regulate industrial hemp farming within its borders.

"This would simplify the process for growers, while enhancing DEA's ability to monitor and regulate industrial hemp production in North Dakota," he said.

The North Dakota Legislature has passed several laws since 1999, legalizing industrial hemp production. Administrative rules putting those laws into effect were approved earlier this month.

"Every effort was made to address the concerns raised by DEA in the rulemaking process," Johnson told Tandy. "DEA provided specific comments regarding the definition of industrial hemp and clarification regarding the registration process."

Johnson said the vast majority of the more than 1,000 comments received by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture during the rulemaking process supported industrial hemp production in North Dakota.

"Industrial hemp production has little potential for criminal activity,"

Johnson said. "Our regulations require licensed industrial hemp farmers to submit to criminal background checks, fingerprinting, seed certification and mandatory laboratory tests, and to provide satellite coordinates that identify and locate industrial hemp fields. These regulations apply to everyone who owns, operates or works at a hemp farm or who grows, handles or processes hemp seed."

The North Dakota licenses must be submitted to DEA annually and do not become effective until the licensee receives DEA approval to import, produce, or process industrial hemp.