With each new election cycle we are given a new opportunity to present our case for domestic hemp farming and processing to Congress. We are excited that every one of the 26 supporters of our hemp legislation in the House was reelected. Rep. Ron Paul plans to reintroduce The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011 in April. We are excited that there are 96 new members in the House and 12 in the Senate that we can lobby for the first time on industrial hemp. Many come from state government positions and some have already supported hemp in the past at the state level. We expect to pick up a number of new supporters after the bill is introduced.
Even more exciting is our prospect for a bill in the Senate! We have been working on a Senate hemp bill and expect to see it introduced this spring. This will be the first time a hemp bill has ever been introduced in the Senate and it will be a big step forward.
We could not have continued to make progress without your support! We are already working on Capitol Hill to build support for our hemp farming legislation. We have prepared information packets for each new Member of Congress, including the new, updated version of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report
Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity. With this information, and personal contact with staff members, we will build on our
success in 2010. With the new Congress we have updated our strategy a little from last year. But we can't continue this without your support. Please
make a donation to Vote Hemp. Once again this year, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps has generously agreed to match every dollar you donate, doubling the impact of your contribution:
With your generous help, in 2011 we will:
- Introduce hemp legislation at the state level with the help of supportive legislators. A new hemp farming bill was introduced by Senator Mark Leno in California last Friday.
- Build support for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act which will be reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in April.
- Get a hemp farming bill introduced in the U.S. Senate for the first time ever.
- Continue our discussions with officials at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
- Get the Department of Justice to meet with state officials and work out a plan that would allow them to regulate hemp farming under state law.
- Urge President Obama and Attorney General Holder to change our federal policy and allow U.S. farmers to once again grow industrial hemp.
- Update The Vote Hemp Guide to Hemp Activism, A Concise Guide to Citizen Lobbying on the Hemp Issue.
- In cooperation with the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), hold the second annual Hemp History Week in May, which will be a much larger celebration than it was in 2010.
The lack of hemp farming and processing in the U.S. is not an issue that needs to be addressed, it's a problem that needs to be solved!
Please make a
contribution to Vote Hemp today to help us continue fixing the situation here in the U.S. We need and truly appreciate your support!
Sincerely,
Eric Steenstra
President
Vote Hemp