U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer this week fired off a letter to top Oregon agriculture officials urging them to move forward with a 2009 law legalizing industrial hemp production.

The Oregon Democrat sent

Tuesday after reading

in light of last month's

.

The congressman, an

, wrote Katy Coba, the director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and Tracey Liskey, chair of the Oregon State Board of Agriculture, and asked them to implement Oregon's industrial hemp law "as soon as practicable."

He sent the letter to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Gov. John Kitzhaber as well.

Blumenauer, in a phone interview this morning with The Oregonian, said the American market for industrial hemp is met entirely by foreign imports.

"Industrial hemp shouldn't be prohibited in the first place because it's not by any stretch of the imagination something that people can smoke and get a high from," he said.

Oregon agriculture officials have held off implementing the state law, saying they are waiting for the federal government to reclassify marijuana from a substance prone to abuse and lacking medicinal value.

Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, said the agency wants an assurance from the U.S. Department of Justice formalizing its federal stance on hemp before Oregon agriculture officials begin implementing the law.

"What we are going to want is a letter that says if we move forward they would treat it the same way they plan to treat legalized marijuana in Washington and Colorado," said Pokarney, who said Coba and Liskey received the letter today.

A memo written last month by Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole explained the federal government's decision not to challenge laws legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington and spelled out eight priorities that will guide the government's approach to marijuana enforcement.

Amanda Marshall the U.S. Attorney for Oregon and the state's highest ranking federal law enforcement official, told The Oregonian last week that her office would not interfere with hemp production in Oregon as long as the state creates "robust" regulatory controls and well-funded enforcement.

"Hemp is cannabis," Marshall said. "It's marijuana, and under federal law, it's exactly the same thing."

Hemp and marijuana are different types of the same species, but hemp lacks marijuana's THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. In hemp's case, the gene that fires up marijuana's high THC production is essentially turned off. The industrial crop is used in textiles, building materials, beauty and food products.

Blumenauer is a co-sponsor of an amendment to the Farm Bill that would allow hemp production and study at research institutions in states with hemp farming legislation.

Blumenauer told Oregon officials that American retailers "sell over $300 million worth of products containing hemp seeds and fibers every year, using hemp grown in other countries. Implementing the law for the cultivation of industrial hemp would allow Oregon farmers to tap into this market.

"With the State of Kentucky moving ahead in this issue, I am eager to understand how Oregon is prepared to take advantage of this duly passed state law," he wrote.

Tom Murphy, national outreach coordinator for

, an advocacy group, said Blumenauer's push for hemp production is significant for Oregon, where the top federal law enforcement official has said the recent federal memo on marijuana applies to hemp. But in other states that allow hemp, farmers still face risks, including the federal government seizing their assets.

"Farmers would unfortunately still be liable," he said.

-- Noelle Crombie