Hemp Farmers Protest by Growing on DEA Lawn

Yesterday the Obama administration announced that the national government will stop interfering with states rights to legalize medicinal marijuana. With the government beginning to realize that marijuana is hardly a drug that should be prosecuted, some hemp farmers decided to plant some hemp seeds on the from lawn of the DEA, in protest of the fact that it's not legal to grow in this country, although some states allow it to be grown.

For those that don't know, hemp is illegal to grow in the U.S., yet it is legal to import it from other countries such as China. Hemp, is not actually marijuana and has a plethora of uses such as clothing, soaps, and paper. Hemp grows faster than trees and is easily replenished.

From Alternet:

Fresh from the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) annual convention last weekend in Washington, DC, a pair of real life farmers who want to be hemp farmers joined with hemp industry figures and spokesmen to travel across the Potomac River to DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, where, in an act of civil disobedience, they took shovels to the lawn and planted hemp seeds. Within a few minutes, they were arrested and charged with trespassing.

Hoping to focus the attention of the Obama administration on halting DEA interference, North Dakota farmer Wayne Hauge, Vermont farmer Will Allen, HIA President Steve Levine, hemp-based soap producer and Vote Hemp director David Bronner, Vote Hemp communications director Adam Eidinger, and hemp clothing company owner Isaac Nichelson were arrested in the action as another dozen or so supporters and puzzled DEA employees looked on