Missouri Senate Passes Bill
Relegalizing Cultivation of Industrial Hemp

The Missouri Senate passed "The Missouri Hemp Production Act of 1997"
(Senate Bill No. 79, sponsored by Sen. Jerry Howard), during a full
session yesterday. The bill, which Missouri governor Mel Carnahan has
already promised to sign into law, now goes to the House for debate
in the coming weeks.

Once the measure passes the Missouri House (as expected), the Director
of Agriculture "shall license and authorize the growing of industrial hemp
when the derivatives thereof are to be used solely for commercial uses,"
and "The director shall issue a license to the applicant for the growing of
such industrial hemp for such commercial uses, and the growing of
industrial hemp, pursuant to the terms of the license issued by the
director shall be lawful to the extent granted by the license."

There will be strict guidelines, set by the state, for the granting of
those hemp licenses. For instance, anyone convicted of a felon, or any drug
charge will obviously not make the list.

Once the bill is signed into law, it will take effect immediately, which
means that the first legal hemp crops could be cultivated this spring and
summer.


Contacts:


Missouri NORML Attorney Dan Viets
email: jlutz01@mail.coin. missouri.edu


Oxford Hemp Exchange
email: oxhemp@pbmo.net

"Scoop" Jones, HT Web News Crew 04/03/97