While You Were Sleeping: The Hemp Bill

You may be forgiven for missing it, but several weeks ago, amid the hubbub of a Supreme Court nomination, a White House scandal, corporate welfare in the form of energy and transportation bills, and more terrorist uprisings than one cares for during the slow summer season, an historic bill was introduced: H.R. 3037, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2005.

This legislation — sponsored by Reps. Sam Farr (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Jim McDermott (D-WA), George Miller (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX) (yes, that’s a Texas Republican on the docket), and Pete Stark (D-CA) — is the first bill ever to be introduced in Congress to repeal the federal ban on the cultivation of industrial hemp as a commercial crop.