The Bluegrass State is eager to grow hemp for the purposes of research and commerce. Instead, its hemp seeds just became the latest casualty in the DOJ’s war on drugs.

Not long ago in America’s history, hemp was king. ‘Make the most of the hemp seed and grow it everywhere,” George Washington instructed his new America.

So vital to our young nation’s success was hemp, that the 1619 Virginia Assembly actually deemed it illegal for farmers not to grow the plant. It’s strange then, given how deeply entrenched hemp once was in the American landscape, to watch Kentucky fight the Department of Justice-not only for the right to grow it, but the seeds to do so.

After challenging the Drug Enforcement Administration’s decision to seize 250 pounds of seeds from the Louisville Airport in court last Friday, the Kentucky Agriculture Department will meet the feds across the aisle Wednesday. The fate of hemp production in America hangs in the balance. So how did hemp go wrong?

In the mid-1700s, hemp-derived from the same plant as marijuana-was ubiquitous, used for everything from food to fabric. While originating from cannabis sativa, like pot, it contains only a negligible amount of THC (the psychedelic chemical in weed). […]