American farmers may soon be allowed to freely grow fields of food, oil and fiber-producing plants whose leaves superficially resemble marijuana.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who introduced the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015 on Wednesday afternoon with 46 original co-sponsors, believes Congress may lift the decades-old ban on growing industrial hemp this year.

“The sense of the House is moving in our direction,” he says. “People understand this is not marijuana.”

Industrial hemp plants are related to marijuana, but contain much lower concentrations of the euphoria-producing compound THC. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970, however, does not distinguish between types of cannabis plants and therefore puts growing hemp off-limits.

Despite Congress' reputation for inertia, there’s reason to believe Massie’s optimism about the bipartisan effort is well-founded.



Congress recently included two pro-hemp measures in larger bills. A provision in the farm bill that President Barack Obama signed in February allowed states to roll out hemp-growing pilot projects.

The House then approved two amendments protecting those projects from the Drug Enforcement Administration after the agency impounded hemp seeds bound for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. One of the measures was included in a spending bill that became law in December.

The large spending bill also disallows the Department of Justice from going after state-authorized medical marijuana programs, a huge win for drug policy reformers that also offers hope to hemp advocates.

And in yet another positive sign, newly minted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is cosponsoring companion legislation to Massie’s bill.

McConnell, who was influential in pushing the farm bill provision, joined fellow Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, and Oregon Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, in introducing the bill earlier this month.



“We’ve taken away many of the arguments against this bill,” Massie says. “We grew acres and acres [of hemp] in Kentucky without barbed wire or concertina wire and nobody got high off any of the hemp plants.”

Identical versions of the House and Senate bills, which would amend the Controlled Substances Act to specify that marijuana does not include low-THC industrial hemp, died without a floor vote last year.

According to the advocacy group Vote Hemp, 21 states have laws allowing for industrial hemp production, but only three states - Colorado, Kentucky and Vermont - rolled out pilot programs in 2014.

"Allowing farmers throughout our nation to cultivate industrial hemp and benefit from its many uses will boost our economy and bring much-needed jobs to the agriculture industry," Sen. Paul said in a statement circulated by Vote Hemp.

“The federal ban on hemp has been a waste of taxpayer dollars that ignores science, suppresses innovation, and subverts the will of states that have chosen to incorporate this versatile crop into their economies," said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., who's co-sponsoring the House bill.



Massie says he doesn’t expect the DEA to rally opposition, even though the agency’s administrator, Michele Leonhart, is a well-known hemp skeptic. Leonhart reportedly said July 4, 2013, when a flag made of hemp flew over the U.S. Capitol at Polis' request, was the lowest day of her law enforcement career. The first American flag, made by Betsy Ross, was also made from hemp.

In support of the legislation, Massie says he will have a dried hemp leaf on the wall of his congressional office in Washington to help people "get over the stigma of the shape and form of this plant.”