Industrial hemp in Oregon: State officials drafting rules for hemp production

By Noelle Crombie
Source: oregonlive.com

Volunteers harvest hemp on Oct. 5, 2013 at a farm in Springfield, Colo. during the first known harvest of industrial hemp in the U.S. since the 1950s. (AP Photo)

Oregon agriculture officials on Tuesday said they hope to have rules in place for the possibility of producing industrial hemp by the spring planting season. 

The Oregon Department of Agriculture has assembled a committee of policy officials and agriculture experts, including Russ Karow, head of the Oregon State University crop and soil science program, to draft rules for industrial hemp production. Jim Cramer, director of the market access and certification program area of the Department of Agriculture, said the agency’s focus is crafting “robust” rules for hemp. 

The committee will hold its first public meeting in December. 

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer will host a public hemp forum Saturday in Portland. The Portland Democrat is one of the plant's biggest boosters in Congress. The forum will start at 10 a.m. at the White Stag Building, 70 N.W. Couch St., in room WS 142/144.  It's scheduled to run until 11:30 a.m.

Oregon is one of seven states with laws that permit the production of industrial hemp, a non-intoxicating relative of marijuana grown for its sturdy fiber and seeds. Oregon agriculture officials have held off implementing the 2009 law, saying they would wait until the federal government reclassified marijuana from a substance prone to abuse and lacking medicinal value.

An opinion issued in late August spelled out the government's decision not to challenge recreational marijuana laws in Washington and Colorado. The memo spelled out the government's priorities on marijuana and stated a "robust" system for enforcing state marijuana laws is less likely to threaten federal priorities.

 

Cramer said the agency sought written confirmation from the federal government stating it would not oppose an industrial hemp program in Oregon, but it hasn't gotten a formal response.

 

He said the committee is researching industrial hemp rules in Colorado, North Dakota and Canada. He said Oregon's rules will cover fees, hemp processing, and testing that ensures the plant's tetrahydrocannabinol level is less than .3 percent.

Cramer said the committee wants to create program rules that would meet federal approval.

"What we want is for the federal government to say these are robust," he said. 

He said the agency hopes to get clarification from the federal government on hemp by the time the rules are drafted.