North Dakota legislator close to breaking barrier to hemp

North Dakota state Rep. David Monson's phone has been ringing off the
hook lately, and he says his computer is swamped with e-mails.

It is the middle of the busy legislative session, but it's Monson's
role in a national issue that is attracting so much attention. He's
closer than anyone else in the region to actually growing a
commercial industrial hemp crop.

Monson has completed all of the necessary paperwork for his
state-issued license.

"I filled in fingerprinting, and it was kind of fun doing the GPS
positioning for the field," he says. "I've never done that before, so
it was kind of interesting."

Monson says his son also is filling out state forms so he can help
with the hemp production.

Although Monson quickly completed all of the steps necessary for
state licensure, he's in a holding pattern for the moment, waiting to
see what the Drug Enforcement Agency will decide on an application fee issue.

More than a month ago, North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger
Johnson asked the federal agency to waive a $2,300 nonrefundable
application fee, a major economic hurdle for potential producers with
no guarantee that the agency will allow anyone to grow hemp.

"We've had several telephone conversations encouraging the DEA to
make a decision," Johnson says. "We know it's on the administrator's
desk right now, but they are still considering it.

"We've made the case that we think it's exorbitant for the DEA to
charge this fee when the state of North Dakota is doing all the work,
but it is their decision."

Monson says if the DEA takes too long to decide on the fee waiver, he
may have to gamble and send in his check.

Meanwhile, Johnson says plenty of North Dakotans seem interested in
following Monson's lead.

"We've received several applications, and as of a few days ago, we
had received almost 20 requests for information, so we know there are
people who are interested," he says.

The applications forms can be downloaded from the state Ag Department
Web site, making it difficult to know how many farmers have taken
that first step.

"We're telling farmers who are interested in this to go through the
North Dakota process first, to sort of move it along as far as
possible," Johnson says.

"Get your fingerprinting and background check done, give us the
geopositioning location, and we'll issue the license. Then you can
make your decision, do you want to apply to the DEA and pay that
$2,300 nonrefundable fee?"

Johnson will be in Washington later this week for the midwinter
National Association of State Departments of Agriculture meeting, and
he plans to meet with DEA officials in person.

"I rather suspect some of my counterparts will want to come along to
that meeting, as they did last year," he predicts.

Johnson says about a dozen states have industrial hemp laws in place,
but no other state actually has made it possible for growers to
obtain a state-issued license, as North Dakota has.

Although Monson has yet to send out his DEA application, he's already
thinking about how to work his 10-acre hemp field in the Osnabrock area.

He's planning to do routine field preparation. "I'm thinking I'll
probably use the regular amount of fertilizer I'd use for, say,
wheat," he speculates. "Preparing the soil shouldn't require any
special machinery. I don't think it will be very different from what
I'd use for canola."

Although he hasn't found a seed source yet, Monson says he already
knows of people interested in purchasing seed from his first crop. As
for the bulkier, leafy stalks, he expects to find a researcher who
can use it to study hemp fiber processing.

"I know when you go through the processing, you have to make sure it
goes to a licensed processor, and we do have provisions to get that
taken care of," he says.

Monson also is aware that harvesting hemp can be complicated, often
requiring sturdier, more powerful machinery because of the crop's
tough fibers. He expects to either hire a custom combiner or borrow
machinery from someone in the area.

As one of the front-runners in the race to grow industrial hemp in
the U.S., Monson has taken his share of criticism from anti-hemp
groups. In response, he turns the tables on those who claim that
industrial hemp will lead to widespread marijuana production.

"I tell them, 'By trying to stop us, you're promoting drug use in the
U.S.' " Monson declares. "The amount of pollen our (industrial hemp)
fields could produce would destroy the high-potency marijuana.

"You could pretty much drive it right out of here.

"Over the long haul, by neutralizing THC with cross-pollination, you
could almost put 'em out of business," he states.