APPEALS COURT HEARS NORTH DAKOTA HEMP CASE

ST. PAUL -- A U.S. Appeals Court panel is considering whether North
Dakota law trumps federal law when it comes to raising hemp.

Two North Dakota farmers want to grow hemp, a close relative to
illegal marijuana, but the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has
not granted them permission. The farmers sued to get the permit, but a
federal district court threw out their suit.

The two sides argued the case Wednesday before an Appeals Court panel
in St. Paul. A decision could come in weeks or months.

The farmers say state law forbids them from distributing leaves and
flowers, which on marijuana plants are used to give users highs.

The DEA says federal law takes precedent over state law, and it does
not allow for hemp production because of its close relationship to
marijuana.

North Dakota Rep. David Monson, an Osnabrock Republican, and Wayne
Hauge of Ray applied to grow hemp under a North Dakota law, which at
the time required a federal permit. The state law has changed, so a
federal permit no longer is required, but the farmers say they still
want that permit so they do not face federal legal problems.

The farmers' lawyers say DEA's hearings on the issue have stalled, so
they sued to get the permits. That suit was thrown out a year ago and
they appealed.

Federal attorney Melissa Patterson of Washington, D.C., said state law
cannot override federal law. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress
power to regulate commerce between states, which is the basis Congress
used in passing laws regulating marijuana and similar plants.

"What states do cannot expand or contract Congress's interstate
regulation powers," Patterson told the judges.

But one of the farmers' lawyers, Joe Sandler, said that is not the
question judges should decide. Instead, he said, "the question here is
whether the mere existence of a plant can affect interstate commerce."

Hemp can be used to make cloth and paper, as a fuel and as an
ingredient in lotions and foods.

Monson said hemp would bring $800 an acre revenue, while wheat may
make him $240.

Hauge and Monson are the first farmers to seek permission to grow hemp
under the 2005 law.

The representative and his attorneys said that North Dakota law is so
strict that hemp could not be turned into a hallucinogen. Besides,
they added, the drug that would lead to a high is so limited in hemp
that it could not produce the same affect as marijuana.

Judge Michael J. Melloy appeared to be concerned that hemp and
marijuana could not be differentiated.

"They are going to look alike to some degree," Patterson told
him.

Sandler said that because of North Dakota's strict monitoring of hemp,
no one would try to sneak in marijuana: "It would be the last place in
the world that anybody would do anything illegal."