THE TIME HAS COME! Lawmakers agree to ease ban on hemp in farm bill proposal Plan would OK cultivation in 10 states DENVER — The federal government is ready to let farmers grow cannabis — at least the kind that can’t get people high. Hemp — marijuana’s non-intoxicating cousin that is used to make everything from clothing to cooking oil — could soon be cultivated in 10 states under a federal farm bill agreement reached late Monday that allows the establishment of pilot growing programs. The plant’s return to legitimacy could clear the way for U.S. farmers to compete in an industry now dominated by China. Even though it has not been grown in the United States, the country is one of the fastest-growing hemp markets. In 2011, the U.S. imported $11.5 million worth of legal hemp products, up from $1.4 million in 2000. Most of that growth was seen in hemp seed and hemp oil, which finds its way into granola bars and other products. “This is big,” said Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, a Washington-based group that advocates for the plant’s legal cultivation. “We’ve been pushing for this a long time.” Legalized growing of hemp had congressional allies from both ends of the political spectrum. Democrats from marijuana-friendly states have pushed to legalize hemp cultivation, as have Republicans from states where the fibrous plant could be a profitable new crop. The full House and Senate still must agree on the bill that will head to the House floor today. State departments of agriculture then must designate hemp-cultivation pilot projects for research purposes. Hemp and marijuana are the same species, Cannabis sativa. Marijuana, however, is cultivated to dramatically increase THC, a psychoactive chemical that exists in trace amounts in hemp. Hemp has historically been used for rope but has hundreds of other uses: clothing and mulch from the fiber, foods such as hemp milk and cooking oil from the seeds, and creams, soap and lotions. Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, but centuries later the plant was swept up in anti-drug efforts and growing it without a federal permit was banned in the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:09:51 +0000
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