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U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, was one of the authors of a provision that allows states and universities to cultivate hemp for research or for pilot projects. The provision was included in the Farm Bill, which will be voted on by the U.S. House and Senate this week.

(Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian)

The U.S. Senate and House conference committee on the Farm Bill tonight released its report, which includes an amendment allowing colleges, universities and state agriculture departments to grow hemp for research purposes.

The amendment was authored by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, and U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colorado. All three represents states where industrial hemp production is allowed under state law.

Blumenauer late Monday called the inclusion of the industrial hemp amendment in the Farm Bill, which the U.S. House and Senate are expected to vote on Wednesday, a "bright spot in an otherwise disappointing bill." The bill cuts about $8 billion from the food stamp program over the next decade.

"Oregonians have made it clear that they believe industrial hemp should be treated as an agricultural commodity, not a drug," Blumenauer said in an email to The Oregonian. "By including language easing restrictions on industrial hemp in states where it is legal, Congress sends an important message that we are ready to examine hemp in a more appropriate way."

The provision allows colleges, universities and state agriculture programs to grow hemp for research and for pilot projects. It does not protect individual farmers who grow the crop.

Oregon is one of a handful of states with laws that permit the production of industrial hemp, a non-intoxicating relative of marijuana grown for its sturdy fiber and seeds.

Oregon agriculture officials have held off implementing the state's 2009 law, saying they would wait until the federal government reclassified marijuana from a substance prone to abuse and lacking medicinal value.

The federal government in August said it would not challenge marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington, a decision that invigorated the hemp movement. Federal law makes no distinction between marijuana and hemp.

Oregon agriculture officials have since moved ahead with drafting rules for industrial hemp production in the state and have said they hope to have them in place in time for a spring planting.

Countries that allow hemp production today sanction a select list of well-established strains that have been bred to have exceptionally low tetrahydrocannabinol, marijuana's psychoactive property. Canada and European countries cap hemp's THC level at less than .3 percent.

The retail value of hemp food and body care products sold in the United States in 2010 was estimated to be worth about $40 million, according to one market research firm.

-- Noelle Crombie