INDIANAPOLIS -- Marijuana’s high-less cousin is a step closer to returning to Indiana. Lawmakers have allowed the state seed commissioner to license farmers to grow industrial hemp - if and when the federal government stops treating it like a Schedule I drug.

A measure authored by Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, was requested by Purdue University researchers who last summer planted the state’s first legal hemp crop in decades.

Purdue researchers foresee Congress ending a federal ban on hemp production in the United States within the next year.

“When that happens, we could be ready to open this up to anybody who want to grow it,” said Purdue agronomist Ron Turco, who’s oversees the university's hemp fields.

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Maureen Hayden ~ CNHI via GreensburgDailyNews.com ~