Like marijuana, industrial hemp comes from the cannabis plant, but it does not have large concentrations of the compound that makes marijuana a high-inducing drug.

Dan Viets grew up on a small farm in Northwest Missouri, less than a mile from the Missouri River, where having a yard covered with hemp was normal to him.

"On that little farm, if you didn't cultivate beans or corn or something else, hemp would grow there," Viets said. "I mean, hemp grew in every fence row, in every uncultivated square foot ... And that's only a slight exaggeration of that little farm."

Hemp remains a part of Viets' life. Serving as the state coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Viets advocates the legalization of industrial hemp in Missouri.

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Anna Kohls ~ ColumbiaMissourian.com ~