New Jersey is in the process of doing what a majority of the Washington County Board of Supervisors is urging New York to do: legalize industrial hemp cultivation.

New Jersey media reports indicate the bill was unanimously passed in the state's Senate, and that it easily swung through the Assembly too by a 65-8 vote. New Jersey joins a growing number of states that are allowing for industrial hemp cultivation. Industrial hemp is classified alongside marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

Last month, a majority of the Washington County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution urging the state and federal governments to legalize industrial hemp.

A number of states are adopting their own laws that conflict with the federal law, but the Drug Enforcement Agency has said it will generally ease its stance and defer to states on the issue. New York's neighbors to the south join its neighbor to the east, Vermont, and at least seven other states in adopting an industrial hemp statute. Vermont requires industrial hemp growers to be licensed by the state.

Bills were introduced last year in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the state Senate, to remove industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana.

--Jamie Munks

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