U.S. On The Verge Of Relaxing Hemp Ban

(Photo V.H. Hammer/Flickr)

A provision that allows hemp research to be conducted in states where the crop is legal has a good chance of being passed as part of the new farm bill.

Congress released the final version of the five-year farm bill on Monday, which is set for a final House and Senate vote on Wednesday.

If passed, federal law would allow research institutes in 11 different states to import hemp seed and study its cultivation, explains Tom Murphy of Washington-based advocacy group Vote Hemp.

Climate differences between countries make this type of research essential, he adds.

“Agriculture colleges and other educational research institutions in states that have passed hemp farming laws would then be able to import seed from other places in the world, do research, and develop varieties that are well-suited to that state and to the United States in general.”

But what the farm bill won’t do is give farmers federal approval to grow the crop.

“We would still need to pass the Industrial Hemp Farming Act or have hemp removed from the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act.”

Murphy explains that industrial hemp is still defined as marijuana under federal law, even though it lacks the chemical that gets you high.

A bill introduced last year in both the House and the Senate, titled the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, aims to solve this problem by defining hemp as varieties of cannabis that contain less than 0.3 percent THC.

But while the bills sit in Congress, a number of states have already taken measures into their own hands.

In 1997, North Dakota became the first state to legalize hemp farming. Since then, the state has been joined by 10 others, Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

Yet only one farmer in the country, Ryan Loflin of Colorado, has been brave enough to plant a hemp crop, which he did last year.

According to Murphy, most farmers interested in growing hemp are still wary of the federal ban. Some have even been warned by the DEA of the consequences.

“If marijuana is defined as all varieties, then you would still have the mandatory minimums and you would still have the asset forfeiture proceedings that could be brought against a farmer for growing a crop that is illegal on the federal level.”

“So there’s still a whole lot of other things that need to be done,” he says.

Source Leaf Science