On the recordJune 2, 2015
The cultivation of cannabis for industrial purposes is governed by the Controlled Substances Act and permitted pursuant to the registration requirements found in title 21, United States Code. Let's face it, hemp is very closely related to cannabis. And DEA agents tell us that it is very difficult to detect, determine, and distinguish between hemp and marijuana, so it only makes their job more difficult. However, the Agricultural Act of 2014--and Mr. Massie just referred to this, I believe--permits institutions of higher learning and State departments of agriculture to grow or cultivate industrial hemp as defined in the statute for purposes of research conducted under an agricultural pilot program or other agricultural or academic research. In short, we are studying it, we are analyzing it, and we are evaluating it, but we don't have the results yet of those studies. I think it would be premature, especially considering the problem with the rapid expansion of the marijuana industry and the problems which I will speak about later this evening with marijuana and abuse of marijuana and the damage to brains of our children and so forth. The last thing I think that we want to do now is to create more problems for enforcement for the DEA. Madam Chairman, if we are going to study it, let's study it, but I do not believe it is time that we remove these restraints on industrial hemp. I reserve the balance of my time.
