After three years, the dedication and tenacity of Hawaii State Representative Cynthia Thielen paid off last May when Governor Cayetano signed the industrial hemp bill into law. Industrial hemp could meet both of these objectives. Plight of American farmers Hemp farming is of integral importance to Hawaii as the state's economy is still suffering from the loss of its main export, sugar cane. Hawaii also has the dubious national distinction of 17.6 percent unemployment rates on one of its islands. Thousands of farmers across the nation are also suffering from the declining profitability of crops they produce.
Farmers have a dearth of options.
The dilemma of the American farmer is aggravating for Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative president Andrew Graves, who spearheaded the lawsuit filed against the DEA last year in an effort to allow Kentucky tobacco farmers the right to grow industrial hemp in lieu of their diminishing tobacco crops. It makes no sense that the same government that encouraged and paid my father good money to grow hemp 40 years ago during WWII is restricting me from saving my ailing tobacco business by forbidding me to grow the same plant. Despite the domestic demand for hemp products, American businesses are still forced to import hemp from any one of the 29 industrialized nations that grow the crop. All members of the Group of Seven Industrialized Nations permit hemp cultivation except one-the United States. North Dakota and Minnesota legalized the cultivation of industrial hemp in spring of 1999 and aim to plant seeds in spring of 2000.