MINOT – Selectmen on Monday night took no action on a resident’s request that the town become involved in efforts to reinstate industrial hemp as a legal cash crop.

Jessica Larlee asked that March town meeting voters consider two questions:

• First, whether to require the town to petition state officials to obtain necessary federal permits to implement a study on the feasibility and desirability of industrial hemp as a cash crop in Maine, as allowed under Maine public law.

• Second, whether townspeople want to require the town to petition the state Legislature to ask Congress to allow industrial hemp to be grown domestically.

Larlee noted that industrial hemp differs from marijuana in that the psycho-active substance in the plant is so low that it has no effect.

She further pointed that the United States currently consumes 60 percent of the world’s hemp supply, all imported. The biggest users, according to Larlee’s information, Ford, Daimler/Chrysler, Wal-Mart, Johnson Controls, Patagonia and the Body Shop.

Town Administrator Gregory Gill, aware in advance of Larlee’s request, had contacted the Maine Municipal Association for legal background on the matter and learned that the Maine Legislature recently repealed criminal penalties for growing industrial hemp, but that federal law would still prohibit it without a permit.

MMA attorney William Livengood wrote, “In short, it doesn’t seem that there is currently any basis for the town to act on the resident’s request for local approval.”

The Board of Selectmen, in accord with its policy to reserve answering residents’ questions on complex issues, told Larlee it would try to respond at the board’s next scheduled meeting, Dec. 6.

In other business, meeting with Road Manager Arlan Saunders, selectmen learned that the town’s one-ton truck blew its transmission, and that its transmission is being replaced in Augusta at a cost of more than $3,800.

Saunders gave selectmen a copy of a letter detailing progress on hiring an engineer to inspect the sub-base on the recently paved Old Pottle Hill School Road.

He also noted that a first choice for an engineer fell through and the situation appears to be further complicated by disagreements between the road’s developer, Chuck Starbird, and engineer Scott Dixon.

Saunders reported that the road serving Center Minot Heights subdivision, serving some 12 lots in the 78 acres, has been completed, with all the work being done according to the town’s and Maine Department of Transportation standards. Approval of the road will be considered at the March town meeting.