The farm bill died, but hemp may live on. Is it because they don't consider hemp marijuana.

The House is still shell-shocked from the unexpected failure of the Farm Bill last week–the kind of legislation that usually passes smoothly, but in our era of dysfunction, fell victim to a poison pill. As Brad notes, the options going forward include starting over entirely, or even going back to rules written in 1949.
There are a lot of big reasons to be troubled about this. But at least one thing happened during the writing of the final bill that should be cause for celebration: The House actually accepted an amendment allowing research on industrial hemp.
Industrial hemp, defined as a particular strain of cannabis with very low levels of THC, is produced in some 30 countries for use in a wide variety of fiber and textile products. But even though nine states have legalized its cultivation, U.S. law still treats it the same as marijuana, which means the Drug Enforcement Administration could throw you in jail for growing it. So the United States has been importing more and more hemp over the years from places like China and Canada–about $11.5 million worth in 2011, according to a March report, with a “highly dedicated and growing demand base.”

That didn’t used to be the case. The federal government encouraged the cultivation of hemp fiber during World War II, and it only fell out of favor as anti-drug sentiment rose, before being effectively banned in 1970. Now, it’s even illegal to grow the plant for research purposes without explicit permission from the DEA–which is where Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) came in.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/24/the-farm-bill-died



"The House on Thursday morning approved a bipartisan amendment to the farm bill that would allow colleges and universities to grow and cultivate hemp for agricultural or academic research.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and other sponsors of the bill said hemp is used industrially around the world and can be found in thousands of products, many of which are sold in the United States. Hemp is a variation of the cannabis plant that has far lower concentrations of the psychoactive compounds found in marijuana.

"Yet somehow, it's caught up in a completely unrelated drug war that prevents American farmers from growing this crop and forces us to import it from other countries," Polis said Wednesday. "Our institutions of higher education can't even grow or cultivate hemp for research purposes."

Polis said his amendment would only take effect in states that have authorized hemp cultivation, and stressed that "hemp is not marijuana."
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/306785-house-approves-hemp-cultivation-in-colleges-universities