Victory for Hemp in North Carolina!

[Gold Metal Flake]

Via email alert from Vote Hemp

http://www.votehemp.com/

September 27, 2006
Dear (me),

North Carolina is the top tobacco-producing state, ranks in the top three for seven other agricultural products, and, with more than 450,000 member families, has one of the largest Farm Bureau memberships of any state. Now, North Carolina is one of the most important agricultural states to pass pro-hemp legislation.

Thanks in part to the hundreds of you who used our Action Alert Center to send letters to NC state legislators, "The Beneficial Uses of Industrial Hemp Act" was signed into law by Governor Michael F. Easley on August 16, as part of "The Studies Act of 2006."

The act creates a commission to study "the uses of industrial hemp oil as an alternative fuel and motor oil; the uses of omega-3 rich industrial hemp seed and industrial hemp oil in snack foods, body care products, and food supplements; the uses of industrial hemp fibers as raw materials for construction and paper products and for fabric; and the uses of industrial hemp in the manufacture of recyclable car parts."

The commission will be comprised of 15 members, including delegates of the Governor, the Commissioner of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, House and Senate leaders, Agriculture Committee chairs, the President of the NC Farm Bureau, and the deans of the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NCSU and the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at NC A&T.

The commission will report its findings and recommendations to the 2007 General Assembly and the Environmental Review Commission by December 1, 2006.

North Carolina's positive step is especially encouraging as we await action on industrial hemp in other parts of the country. We should know by the end of the week whether Governor Schwarzengger will sign the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act. Meanwhile, North Dakota is finalizing rules for licensing farmers to grow hemp under its 1999 law.

I look forward to sharing the latest news with you as soon as it breaks.

Sincerely,

Eric Steenstra
President

[nclib]

1. This is great news.

Hemp would be a wonderful alternative to tobacco. :)