( CNN ) -- The feds call industrial hemp a controlled substance -- the same as pot , heroin , LSD -- but advocates say a sober analysis reveals a harmless , renewable cash crop with thousands of applications that are good for the environment . Industrial hemp , left , looks a lot like its cousin in the cannabis family , marijuana . Two North Dakota farmers are taking that argument to federal court , where a November 14 hearing is scheduled in a lawsuit to determine if the Drug Enforcement Administration is stifling the farmers ' efforts to grow industrial hemp . The DEA says it 's merely enforcing the law . Marijuana and industrial hemp are members of the Cannabis sativa L. species and have similar characteristics . One major difference : Hemp wo n't get you high . Hemp contains only traces of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol , or THC , the compound that gets pot smokers stoned . However , the Controlled Substances Act makes little distinction , banning the species almost outright . Marijuana , which has only recreational and limited medical uses , is the shiftless counterpart to the go-getter hemp , which has a centuries-old history of handiness . The February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine heralded hemp as the `` new billion-dollar crop , '' saying it had 25,000 uses . Today , it is a base element for textiles , paper , construction materials , car parts , food and body care products . It 's not a panacea for health and environmental problems , advocates concede , but it 's not the menace the Controlled Substances Act makes it out to be . Watch why a North Dakota official thinks the U.S. should be in the hemp business » . `` This is actually an anti-drug . It 's a healthy food , '' explained Adam Eidinger of the Washington advocacy group Vote Hemp . `` We 're not using this as a statement to end the drug war . '' Rather , Eidinger said , Vote Hemp wants to vindicate a plant that has been falsely accused because of its mischievous cousin . North Dakota farmers Wayne Hauge and Dave Monson say comparing industrial hemp to marijuana is like comparing pop guns and M-16s . They 've successfully petitioned the state Legislature -- of which Monson is a member -- to authorize the farming of industrial hemp . They 've applied for federal permits and submitted a collective $ 5,733 in nonrefundable fees , to no avail , so they 're suing the DEA . North Dakota is one of seven states to OK hemp production or research . California would have made eight until Gov . Arnold Schwarzenegger last week vetoed the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act , citing the burden on law enforcement which would have to inspect hemp fields to make sure they were marijuana-free . Administration skeptical of initiatives . The DEA claims the farmers ' lawsuit is misguided because the agency is obligated to enforce the Controlled Substances Act . `` Hemp comes from cannabis . It 's kind of a Catch 22 there , '' said DEA spokesman Michael Sanders . `` Until Congress does something , we have to enforce the laws . '' The difference between marijuana , industrial hemp » . Asked if the DEA opposes the stalled House Resolution 1009 , which would nix industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana , Sanders said the Justice Department and President Bush would make that call . `` When it comes to laws , we do n't have a dog in that fight , '' he said . The Justice Department has no position yet on the resolution , said spokesman Erik Ablin . The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy , however , is skeptical because of the burden hemp would place on law enforcement resources . Also , hemp advocates are regularly backed -- sometimes surreptitiously -- by the pro-marijuana movement , the office alleges . `` ONDCP cautions that , historically , the hemp movement has been almost entirely funded by the well-organized and well-funded marijuana legalization lobby , '' said spokesman Tom Riley . `` All we do is ask people not to be naive about what 's really going on here . '' Often , the hemp movement -- like hemp legislation -- is inextricably tied to marijuana . Pot advocates like actor Woody Harrelson and activist Jack Herer have double or ulterior agendas when they expound the virtues of hemp . Not so with Monson , 57 . The assistant GOP leader in the state House , who returned to the family farm where he was reared in 1975 , said he became interested in hemp in 1993 when scab , or Fusarium head blight , devastated his wheat and barley crops . Monson grows canola , too , but wants another crop in his rotation . Soybeans are too finicky for the weather and rocky soil . Monson also tried pinto beans , fava beans and buckwheat with no luck . `` None of them seemed to really be a surefire thing , '' he said . `` We were looking for anything that was potentially able to make us some money . '' Hemp , said the lifelong farmer , seemed an apt fit . It likes the climate , its deep roots irrigate soil , it does n't need herbicides because it grows tall quickly and it breaks the disease cycles in other crops , Monson said . States follow Canada 's lead . About 20 miles north of Monson 's Osnabrock farm lies the Canadian border , the hemp dividing line . Just over the border in Manitoba , farmers have been reaping the benefits of hemp since 1998 , when Health Canada reversed a longtime ban . In a Vote Hemp video , Shaun Crew , president of Hemp Oil Canada Inc. , a processing company in Sainte-Agathe , praised Canada 's foresight in differentiating between hemp and marijuana . While marijuana THC levels can range between 3 and 20 percent , Canada demands its hemp contain no more than 0.3 percent . In some hemp , the THC levels can sink as low as one part per million , Crew said . `` There 's probably more arsenic in your red wine , there 's more mercury in your water and there 's definitely more opiates in the poppy seed bagel you ate this morning , '' Crew said on the video . The North Dakota Legislature is convinced , as are the general assemblies in Hawaii , Kentucky , Maine , Maryland , Montana and West Virginia . With his state 's blessing , North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson is backing the farmers and has proposed modeling North Dakota 's hemp laws after Canada 's strict regulations . `` We were n't just going to tell the DEA to take a hike , '' Johnson said . `` We 're serious about this , and we want to do it in concert with the DEA . '' In a March 27 letter to Johnson , Joseph Rannazzisi of the DEA 's Office of Diversion Control , said the permits were denied because the state had n't satisfied the agency 's security and logistical requirements . Security aspects require careful evaluation because `` the substance at issue is marijuana -- the most widely abused controlled substance in the United States , '' Rannazzisi wrote . `` We 've been terribly brainwashed '' Hemp was n't always banned in the U.S. Jamestown Colony required farmers to grow it in 1619 . Even after Congress cracked down on marijuana in 1937 , farmers were encouraged to grow the crop for rope , sails and parachutes during World War II 's `` Hemp for Victory '' campaign . Jake Graves , 81 , heeded the call . Graves , whose father grew hemp in both world wars and whose grandfather grew it during the Civil War , was a teen when his father died in 1942 . At the time , Graves ' family was growing hemp for the Army . The Graveses continued growing hemp on their 500-acre Kentucky farm until 1945 , when the market dried up after the advent of synthetic fabrics and the post-war reinvigoration of international trade . But Graves stands by the crop and its versatility and says that by lumping hemp in with marijuana , lawmakers `` threw the baby out with the wash. '' `` We 've been terribly brainwashed as a society , '' Graves said . `` Man did n't use it for all those hundreds and hundreds of years without knowing what they were doing . '' In the U.S. , tapping hemp 's versatility relies on imports . The DEA clamped down on most hemp imports in 1999 and 2001 , but relented after a Canadian company sued , saying the ban violated its rights under the North American Free Trade Agreement . Though advocates considered it a victory , Johnson said hemp wo n't be fully utilized until it can be grown and researched stateside . `` For us to grow it is n't enough . You have to build that infrastructure , '' Johnson said . `` None of those uses is really going to develop to any great degree until we 're able to grow this commodity . '' Johnson said the farmers ' Vote Hemp-funded lawsuit has no hidden agenda . It 's aimed solely at allowing farmers to grow hemp -- without going to jail because federal law says hemp and marijuana are the same . `` I 've got a state Legislature saying they are n't and the entire world saying they are n't . This is about a crop that is a legitimate crop every place else in the world , '' Johnson said . `` It 's not a crusade thing . It 's a crop . Let farmers grow it . We do n't want anyone to be growing drugs . '' E-mail to a friend .
Fast-growing hemp used for food , paper , textiles and car parts . Hemp and marijuana have tetrahydrocannabinol , but the level in hemp is lower . North Dakota is one of seven states that have OK 'd production or research . The DEA will not approve permits for two farmers in that state .