Brian4Liberty
08-23-2017, 02:39 PM
Kentucky Lawmakers Are Leading the Fight to Federally Legalize Hemp (https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwwgj4/kentucky-lawmakers-are-leading-the-fight-to-federally-legalize-hemp)
By TROY FARAH - Aug 21 2017
Congresspeople in the Bluegrass state say it's time to stop threatening the $688 million industry.
Decades before cannabis was made illegal in 1937, hemp was a big cash crop for Kentucky. In 1850, the Bluegrass State produced 40,000 tons of the stuff. During World War II, the government paid citizens to grow the plant. Now it's at the center of a bill that would legalize hemp on a federal level.
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Even so, the US has threatened farmers who grow it and often treated it like a dangerous drug: the plant remains forbidden in the eyes of the federal government, which blanket-banned all forms of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. Now, republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky is sponsoring the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2017, with the bipartisan support of 16 congresspeople. Kentucky's two Republican senators—Rand Paul and yes, even Mitch McConnell—are also in support of the bill.
"A lot of the older folks here remember their parents growing it on their farms," Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the bill, told me in a phone call. "There's not this opposition from older conservative voters in Kentucky that you might see in states that aren't familiar with hemp."
Hemp is useful for making more than 25,000 products, including textiles, paper, and food. One of its main extracts, cannabidiol (CBD) shows promise for many medical conditions, including epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder. This rapidly growing industry was estimated to be worth $688 million in 2016 and more than 30 states have laws allowing for hemp production, despite the federal regulations. Of course, that didn't stop the DEA from conducting raids in some areas, which led to at least one lawsuit.
In 2013, Comer was Kentucky's Commissioner of Agriculture, a position that gave him leverage to insert an industrial hemp amendment in the Agricultural Act of 2014. Under certain conditions, it allowed states to grow hemp if it was for research purposes and attached to a university. In 2015, two bills were introduced to Congress that would have legalized hemp federally. Both bills died in committee.
"Before I was the sponsor of [the hemp bill], Ron Paul was the sponsor, and I've carried the bill for two years and I passed the torch to James Comer," Massie said. "He has modified it some to be more copacetic for [Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob] Goodlatte and the law enforcement community. I think that's another reason it may get over the finish line—we have another ally in this fight who was just elected to Congress nine months ago."
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More: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwwgj4/kentucky-lawmakers-are-leading-the-fight-to-federally-legalize-hemp
By TROY FARAH - Aug 21 2017
Congresspeople in the Bluegrass state say it's time to stop threatening the $688 million industry.
Decades before cannabis was made illegal in 1937, hemp was a big cash crop for Kentucky. In 1850, the Bluegrass State produced 40,000 tons of the stuff. During World War II, the government paid citizens to grow the plant. Now it's at the center of a bill that would legalize hemp on a federal level.
...
Even so, the US has threatened farmers who grow it and often treated it like a dangerous drug: the plant remains forbidden in the eyes of the federal government, which blanket-banned all forms of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. Now, republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky is sponsoring the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2017, with the bipartisan support of 16 congresspeople. Kentucky's two Republican senators—Rand Paul and yes, even Mitch McConnell—are also in support of the bill.
"A lot of the older folks here remember their parents growing it on their farms," Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of the bill, told me in a phone call. "There's not this opposition from older conservative voters in Kentucky that you might see in states that aren't familiar with hemp."
Hemp is useful for making more than 25,000 products, including textiles, paper, and food. One of its main extracts, cannabidiol (CBD) shows promise for many medical conditions, including epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder. This rapidly growing industry was estimated to be worth $688 million in 2016 and more than 30 states have laws allowing for hemp production, despite the federal regulations. Of course, that didn't stop the DEA from conducting raids in some areas, which led to at least one lawsuit.
In 2013, Comer was Kentucky's Commissioner of Agriculture, a position that gave him leverage to insert an industrial hemp amendment in the Agricultural Act of 2014. Under certain conditions, it allowed states to grow hemp if it was for research purposes and attached to a university. In 2015, two bills were introduced to Congress that would have legalized hemp federally. Both bills died in committee.
"Before I was the sponsor of [the hemp bill], Ron Paul was the sponsor, and I've carried the bill for two years and I passed the torch to James Comer," Massie said. "He has modified it some to be more copacetic for [Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob] Goodlatte and the law enforcement community. I think that's another reason it may get over the finish line—we have another ally in this fight who was just elected to Congress nine months ago."
...
More: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwwgj4/kentucky-lawmakers-are-leading-the-fight-to-federally-legalize-hemp