Hemp Wins Policy Victory

Marijuana’s sister plant, hemp, won a policy victory on Thursday when the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to bar Drug Enforcement Agency raids on hemp research.

But the senators could not make it through consideration of the issue without some hemp jokes.

Sen. Jon Tester:

“This isn’t the stuff you smoke. If you smoke this stuff, you’ve got to smoke like 80 pounds to get a buzz.”

Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) then thanked the senator from Montana for his “expertise.”

Joking about marijuana does not necessarily signal acceptance of the drug. Still, the light-hearted attitude is a contrast to the “war on drugs” mentality that took hold under President Reagan, who declared that “we’re running up a battle flag” against drugs.

Will hemp or marijuana become legal in your lifetime?