e tried, that might convince them otherwise," Johnson said of the DEA. "So short of the Congress passing a law defining industrial hemp differently from marijuana, I think it's going to be a long, uphill battle to get anywhere." The federal Controlled Substances Act does not differentiate between marijuana and hemp, said Barbara Carreno, a DEA spokeswoman. As a result, "we would not approve applications to grow hemp because it is marijuana," she said. Because of that, Johnson called for a grassroots push for congressional action to legalize hemp production. Imports include finished hemp products and hemp material turned into goods. U.S. retail sales of hemp products exceeded $400 million last year, according to industry estimates. Pete Ashman, of Philadelphia, was among those at the Lexington hemp seminar, where he displayed a myriad of hemp products, from food, http://www.cheaptomsshoesoutletstor.com - toms shoes on sale , to toilet paper to shampoo. He claimed, "There's nothing greener on God's earth." Republican state Sen. Paul Hornback didn't go that far, http://www.cheaptomsoutlet0.com - toms kids shoes , but the tobacco farmer from Shelbyville said in a phone interview that he sees industrial hemp as an alternative crop that could give Kentucky agriculture a boost if it ever gains a legal foothold. Your comment will be posted immediately, http://www.cheaptomsshoesoutletstor.com - toms shoe store , unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ. An insider's guide to politics and policy, available on the iPad or as a PDF download.
By FRANK BAJAK and PAOLA FLORES, Associated Press SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AP) Jacob Ostreicher, a New York businessman, has been confined for 10 months in one of Bolivia's most unruly prisons without being charged. He has shed more than 30 pounds, helpless to do anything as, he alleges, the multimillion-dollar rice farming venture he managed has been plundered. At more than two dozen hearings, prosecutors have presented no evidence to back their allegations that the 53-year-old American may have been laundering drug money. And this week, the presiding judge quit the case, likely meaning more weeks of delay. "This is the scam of the century," Ostreicher said by telephone afterward. "I feel Iike I've been hijacked and kidnapped by people who are hiding behind the law." The prosecutor would not discuss Ostreicher's complaints with The Associated Press. Nor would senior Bolivian officials, though U.S. diplomats have appealed to them to try to extract Ostreicher from the legal labyrinth. The troubles began when Ostreicher and a group of Swiss partners decided to invest $25 million to grow rice in Bolivia's eastern lowlands four years ago. Andre Zolty, one of the Swiss investors, said the idea came from a Colombian lawyer, Claudia Liliana Rodriguez, who had done some work for him in Geneva while a student. "I made a big mistake to trust that woman," Zolty said. Some of the land that Rodriguez bought for the venture turned out to belong to the brother of a drug trafficker who had escaped from a Brazilian prison and who, the investors say, became romantically and financially entwined with her. When the inves
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