Ron Paul Hatches Clever Plot to Lower the Cost of Campaign Fliers

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul and nine Democratic allies are re-introducing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act.

Since 1970, the federal Controlled Substances Act's inclusion of industrial hemp in the schedule one definition of marijuana has prohibited American farmers from growing industrial hemp despite the fact that industrial hemp has such a low content of THC (the psychoactive chemical in the related marijuana plant) that nobody can be psychologically affected by consuming hemp. Federal law concedes the safety of industrial hemp by allowing it to be legally imported for use as food.*

The United States is the only industrialized nation that prohibits industrial hemp cultivation. The Congressional Research Service has noted that hemp is grown as an established agricultural commodity in over 30 nations in Europe, Asia, and North America. My Industrial Hemp Framing Act will relieve this unique restriction on American farmers and allow them to grow industrial hemp in accord with state law.

The press release for the (still probably doomed) effort is here. Reason's hemp archive is right here.

*Indeed, I had a batch of hemp waffles two weekends ago. Delicious stuff.