Dear Representative,

I am writing to ask that you please become a co-sponsor of H.R. 1866, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009, and to work to get hearings for the bill in the committees to which it has been assigned. If you are a member of the Senate, I am asking that you become a sponser or original co-sponsor of a Senate Companion Bill to H.R. 1866.
The legislation allows American farmers to once again grow hemp to the extent allowed under state laws, repealing a provision in federal law that makes the United States the only industrialized nation where farmers are prohibited from growing this profitable and sustainable agricultural crop.

If you or your staff would like to learn more about this agricultural issue, please read the latest version of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report "Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity," which is dated March 23, 2007 and has the order code RL32725. The report can be ordered from the CRS or it can be downloaded from The National Agricultural Law Center at:

http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/RL32725.pdf

Please also consider watching the video "Controversial Crop" from America's Heartland, which is produced by KVIE in Sacramento, California:

http://www.americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_315/controversial_crop.html

Last year Vote Hemp released a poll of 807 likely North Dakota voters about industrial hemp. According to the poll, a total of 74% of North Dakotan voters support changing federal law to allow farmers to grow hemp, including 40% who "strongly support" and another 34% who "somewhat support" changes so that farmers in the U.S. can supply manufacturers with hemp seed and fiber grown from oilseed and fiber varieties of industrial hemp. You can read the poll at:

http://www.votehemp.com/polls.html

The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009 would finally allow North Dakota, and the states that have passed pro-hemp legislation or resolutions (Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia), considered pro-hemp legislation or resolutions (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin), or where farm groups have advocated for a return to industrial hemp farming (Ohio and Pennsylvania), to choose whether or not to let farmers grow industrial hemp.

I would specifically like to know: Will you become a become a co-sponsor of H.R. 1866, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009, which will once again permit agricultural hemp farming in the U.S.? What is your position on supporting farmers in the U.S. having the opportunity to once again farm this valuable agricultural crop? What did you, or your staff, think of the CRS report and the video? Will you work to get hearings for the bill in the committees to which it has been assigned?



I look forward to your reply.

[Your name here]