THE HEMP VOTE

It is high time for bipartisan cooperation.

Representative Ron Paul, the libertarian Texas Republican, is
sponsoring HR 1009, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007, a bill
that would remove restrictions on cultivating nonpsychoactive
industrial hemp on United States farms. Mr. Paul joins nine
Democratic co-sponsors, including Representative Dennis J. Kucinich,
the vegan Ohio Democrat, who, like Mr. Paul, is running for
president. This could prove a burning issue in the 2008 campaign. Or not.

Hemp is a variety of Cannabis sativa, a plant commonly grown for
industrial use around the world, but not in the United States. A more
potent variety is known to pot smokers worldwide as marijuana. "It is
indefensible that the United States government prevents American
farmers from growing this crop," Mr. Paul said in a statement.