Oregon Sen.

has introduced an amendment to the federal farm bill that would decouple hemp from the definition of marijuana and allow farmers to grow the industrial variety of Cannabis.

which can be used to make clothing, oils, paper, rope and other products. Its seeds contain oil that can be used to make lubricants, detergents, paint, varnish, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

"My amendment to the Farm Bill will change federal policy to allow U.S. farmers to produce hemp for these safe and legitimate products right here, helping both producers and suppliers to grow and improve Oregon's economy in the process," Wyden said in a news release.

The

to grow and possess industrial hemp and to buy and sell hemp commodities and products, but federal policy blocked its implementation. The feds do not distinguish oilseed and fiber varieties of hemp from psychoactive pot, and no one can grow it until they say so.

American manufacturers must import hemp, including a Portland company,

., that makes protein powder, ice cream and milk from oil-rich hemp seeds.

A 1998 Oregon State University study concluded that industrial hemp would grow well in the Columbia and Snake River basins and in the lowland areas between the Coast Range and the Cascades from the Rogue Valley in the south to Puget Sound in the north. It would require irrigation, adding to the cost of production, but anywhere sweet corn grows well, hemp would do the same, OSU concluded.

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