Topeka ? After a debate filled with jokes and puns, the Kansas House advanced a bill Friday that would, for the first time since World War II, authorize research and commercial production of hemp, a plant closely related to marijuana but lacking most of the intoxicating substance THC.

“In the initial advertisement of this bill, I really wasn’t too high on it,” said Rep. Trevor Jacobs, R-Fort Scott.

The bill establishes a “pilot program” that authorizes the Kansas Department of Agriculture to issue licenses for individuals or businesses to grow, distribute or process industrial hemp, defined in the bill as a form of cannabis containing no more than 0.3 percent THC, or about one one-hundredth the amount contained in some forms of high-grade marijuana.

It would also authorize higher education institutions that offer degrees in agricultural science to conduct research into hemp-related agronomy as well as the development and commercialization of hemp-related industrial products.

Rep. Willie Dove, R-Bonner Springs, a longtime supporter of the measure, noted that for many years, hemp was a major agricultural commodity in the United States and was a component in products ranging from rope to plastics. He argued that passage of the bill would help boost Kansas agriculture.

According to the North American Industrial Hemp Council, hemp has been grown for at least 12,000 years, but it was effectively banned in the United States in the 1950s when the plant was put into the same category of controlled substances as marijuana.

In 2014, however, Congress passed a law authorizing states to allow their universities or their agriculture departments to cultivate industrial hemp for research purposes.

Still, the bill has drawn strong opposition from some in the House who argued that hemp growers could abuse the law to produce higher-grade marijuana, and that the Kansas Department of Agriculture is not equipped to take on a new regulatory and licensing program.

On an unrecorded voice vote, the House advanced the bill to final action, which will likely occur Monday.