Two conservative Republicans have come out in support of industrial hemp. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, both Republican senators from Kentucky, are working to bring industrial hemp back to Kentucky, where it was once a major crop.
In fact, the battle to legalize hemp has already succeeded at the state level, where a bill to legalize the growing of hemp became law in April. Hemp is still illegal at the federal level, of course. McConnell and Paul are sponsoring bills to legalize industrial hemp at the federal level. Members of the Kentucky delegation in the House are also supporting similar legislation. If no legislation can be passed, McConnell intends to ask the Drug Enforcement Administration for a waiver for Kentucky’s hemp growers, which the DEA has the power to issue but hasn’t done since World War II.