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The only people who oppose the cultivation of industrial hemp are anti-cannabis bureaucracies, politicians, drug-testing companies and U.S. law enforcement.

America's industrial ban on hemp is "a poster child for dumb regulation," argues lazy ass pothead! Wait, sorry, scratch that. Make that Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, introducing an amendment last week to the densely contested 2012 Farm Bill, which is either a subsidies and sustainability savior or callous food austerity, depending on who you ask.

But if you ask Wyden, "the best possible Farm Bill" is one that repeals a ban on industrial hemp the United States is already quite busy, and expensively, importing from the few feet it takes to cross the Canadian border.

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David Bronner is going to be in jail overnight (ouch), and is being charged with disorderly conduct, blocking a public way, and attempted distribution of marijuana.

If distribution is the charge they bring, things may get interesting. The US federal government bans growing of hemp plants, despite their lack of the psychoactive ingredient THC. But it is legal to import the sterilized seeds and the oil, among other things. It's oil (on bread), ground from the plants on site, that David was providing to people. Can a distribution charge of a food substance that is sold legally right here in the US stand up? The right to sell such food substances was tested and secured, in large part through Dr. Bronner's supported efforts. Perhaps there's some issue with the absence of an opportunity for FDA oversight, but that doesn't sound like a drug distribution charge to me. Perhaps some knowledgeable attorneys can weigh in here.

In the meanwhile, here are six video clips we shot from our smart phones today, followed by a professional one by Robin Bell

Bronner Video

David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, which imports more than 20 tons of hemp oil each year from Canadian farmers, was arrested by members of the DC Metropolitan Police Department after committing an act of civil disobedience within sight of the White House early Monday morning. Bronner and fellow hemp activists pulled up to 16th and H Streets NW, unloaded a jail cell-like structure (to prevent police from immediately interfering), which Bronner locked himself into with 12 hemp plants. He then proceeded to harvest the plants and press hemp oil from them. (Bronner was planning to spread the oil on slices of bread and share it with onlookers, but that was unconfirmed at press time

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Amendment Would Allow American Farmers To Once Again Grow Hemp Under State Law.

Vote Hemp has learned today that Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has signed on as a co-sponsor of Senator Ron Wyden’s hemp farming amendment (S.AMDT.2220) to the Farm Bill (S.3240), the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012. Announced by Senator Wyden’s office yesterday, the amendment would exclude industrial hemp from the definition of ‘marihuana.’ Senator Wyden’s amendment will empower American farmers by allowing them to once again grow industrial hemp, a profitable commodity with an expanding market. The cultivation of industrial hemp will be regulated by state permitting programs, like North Dakota’s, and will not impact the federal government’s long-standing prohibition of marijuana.

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