Hemp History Week: Changes Announced to Wed. May 19 Event at Department of Justice

Attention: Photo Opportunity

WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, May 19 at 10:30am Hemp History Week supporters, including a person dressed in an elaborate 'George Washington' costume, will visit the Attorney General's office building located at 950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, D.C. with a 50 lb. bag of hemp seed, in order to display the crop which must continue to be imported instead of being grown in the U.S. due to the ban on hemp farming. The 'George Washington' character will arrive in a van powered by waste vegetable oil and hemp oil. Photographers are encouraged to attend for the 30 minute photo opportunity.

The event comes a day after North Dakota's Speaker of the House, David Monson, brought a lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that argues there have been unreasonable delays to his February 17, 2007 application to the DEA to grow industrial hemp.

Hemp History Week organizers had intended to deliver tens of thousands of hand-signed postcards from across the U.S. urging the U.S. Attorney General to ensure that hemp farming would be viewed as acceptable activity in states with hemp farming laws. However, organizers now intend to deliver the cards sometime in the next month in order to include postcards collected later this week in different parts of the country.

"It is a well known fact that George Washington grew hemp for a wide variety of uses," says Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp. Steenstra adds, "It was once an important crop for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and thousands of American farmers across the country, including farmers here in the Capital region until it was essentially outlawed in 1970 by the Controlled Substances Act."

Hemp History Week supporters will visit George Washington's home of Mt. Vernon on Friday, May 21 at 10:30am to inquire about where the founding father grew hemp on the farm. Supporters will meet in D.C. at Capitol Hemp at 1802 Adams Mill Rd. NW at 9:30am to drive to Mt. Vernon. Currently the historical site does not reference hemp farming by the first President; however, the Library of Congress has hand written letters by Washington describing his cultivation of hemp.

In addition to local events nationwide, natural product retail outlets are also participating in Hemp History Week by sampling best-selling hemp products in their stores including: Nature's Path's Hemp Plus™ Granola Cereal, Sunny Hemp™ Granola Bars and Hemp Plus™ Waffles; Living Harvest Foods Tempt™ hemp milk and frozen desserts; Nutiva's organic shelled hemp seed; Manitoba Harvest Hemp Pro™ 70 and Hemp Pro™ 50 protein powders; and Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. In the D.C. area sampling of hemp foods will take place at My Organic Market locations in Maryland and Virginia throughout the week of May 17–23.

For further information and a list of sponsors, go to: http://www.hemphistoryweek.com

SOURCE Vote Hemp