Did You Know? Nations Allowing Farmers to Grow Hemp, on DrugWarFacts.org
by David Borden, February 07, 2011, 06:42pm, (Issue #670)
DrugWarFacts.org, a publication of Common Sense for Drug Policy (CSDP), is an in-depth compilation of key facts, stats and quotes on the full range of drug policy issues, excerpted from expert publications on the subjects. The Chronicle is running a series of info items from DrugWarFacts.org, and we encourage you to check it out.
Did you know that approximately 30 countries allow farmers to grow hemp (but not the US)?
"Approximately 30 countries in Europe, Asia, and North America currently permit farmers to grow hemp, although most banned production for certain periods of time in the past. The United States is the only developed nation in which industrial hemp is not an established crop. Great Britain lifted its ban in 1993 and Germany followed suit in 1996. In order to help reestablish a hemp industry, the European Union administered a subsidy program in the 1990s for hemp fiber production.
In 1998, Canada authorized production for commercial purposes, following a three-year experimental period and a 50-year prohibition. As a condition of receiving a license to grow industrial hemp, Canadian farmers are required to register the GPS coordinates of their fields, use certified low-THC hemp seed, allow government testing of their crop for THC levels, and meet or beat a 10ppm standard for maximum allowable THC residue in hemp grain products. Agriculture Canada (the Canadian department of agriculture) estimates that more than 100 farmers nationwide are growing hemp, with the majority in central and western Canada."
Source: Rawson, Jean M., Congressional Research Service, "Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity" (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, January 5, 2005), p. CRS-3,
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32725.pdf(via the DrugWarFacts.org Hemp chapter).
