Sen. Mike Rounds Shares Photo of Father Harvesting Hemp

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]R[/dropcap]epublican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota recently shared an old black and white photo of his father harvesting hemp about 80 years ago.

Marijuana Moment reports that at a townhall event, Rounds indicated that his father used to help harvest hemp that was used to make rope for Navy forces during World War II. “For those of you who participated in my tele-townhall tonight, this is the picture I mentioned during the call,” Rounds posted. “It’s of my dad (Grandpa Don, left) as a young boy working in a South Dakota hemp field. We believe it was taken sometime in the late 1930s/early 1940s.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem vetoed legislation earlier this year that would have legalized industrial hemp in once again in the state. The North Dakota Senate was unable to override the veto as well. Noem attempted to block hemp production, even after it was reclassified at the federal level. Some have speculated Round’s post might be referring to Noem’s decision to block industrial hemp.

Noem even wrote an op-ed declaring her opposition to hemp. “When I was sworn in as South Dakota’s governor in January, opposing industrial hemp and marijuana legalization weren’t on my list of key issues,” she wrote in the Argus Leader. “But during the first legislative session of my tenure, I vetoed a measure to legalize industrial hemp. If the issue comes up this year, I will veto it again.”

Meanwhile, two cannabis reform initiatives received enough signatures to move forward in legislation. One would legalize recreational cannabis and the other would legalize medical cannabis.