The bills made it out of the agriculture committees, but have been sent back for more research. Hemp legislation has grown like the weed itself. Hawaii and Vermont recently passed measures promoting hemp research, and Colorado and Missouri have attempted to pass similar laws. The University of Mississippi holds the only Drug Enforcement Administration permit to grow marijuana and hemp for research. It's a great cash crop.
Proponents tout hemp's potential uses in rope, textiles, oil, paint, paper and fuel.
The bills passed easily in the agriculture committees earlier this year, and legislators says there were enough votes to pass the bill. And they said it was too controversial. Boggess was talking about the Governor's Alliance on Substance Abuse, which sprayed political herbicide on the hemp bill. The bills lie dormant this summer in their respective agriculture committees, while state drug czar Charles Larson, the bill's exterminator, has been working to convince the Farm Bureau to overturn last year's resolution. The bill may have gone, to borrow a Cheech and Chong movie title, up in smoke.