Supervisors to state: Declassify hemp as controlled substance

By Jamie Munks
Source: poststar.com


Hemp Plant (Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

FORT EDWARD -- Most Washington County supervisors joined Dana Haff Friday in urging the state and federal governments to legalize industrial hemp, a measure the Hartford supervisor has been pushing for months.

The county Board of Supervisors voted 11-4 in favor of the push for allowing industrial hemp to be grown on American soil, a move a growing number of states are making as the federal government has indicated it would ease restrictions and defer to states on the issue.

“This is up to the state to decide,” said Jackson Supervisor Alan Brown, who voted in favor. “What we’re saying with this is it’s an option we might like to take some time in the future.”

Growing industrial hemp, a form of cannabis, is illegal in the U.S. under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which lumps industrial hemp in the category with marijuana. Hemp has a wide range of uses — in food, paper, cosmetics and rope — but doesn't create the psychoactive effects marijuana does when smoked or eaten.

According to a University of Vermont study on industrial hemp, the THC levels in marijuana can vary from 3 percent to 15 percent, but are below 1 percent in plants grown for industrial hemp. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Bills were introduced this year in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the state Senate, to remove industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana.

The Department of Justice indicated earlier this year it would generally defer to states on the issue of cannabis, and a growing number of states have begun declassifying industrial hemp as a controlled substance and allowing it to be grown and processed.

Haff on Friday pointed to neighboring Vermont as one such example — Vermont is taking applications from farmers looking to grow industrial hemp in 2014.

“I would like to see New York state do the same thing,” Haff said.

According to Haff, Washington County is the first county in the state to pass such a resolution.

The resolution urges the state and federal government to recognize industrial hemp as “a valuable agricultural commodity,” and to define it as non-psychoactive.

While growing hemp is illegal, finished hemp is legal in the U.S. and is frequently imported from other countries to use in a wide range of products produced domestically. The resolution also says legalizing industrial hemp to be grown here will “promote the balance of trade,” because the option to buy it domestically would then be available.

Greenwich Supervisor Sara Idleman, Granville Supervisor Matt Hicks, Hebron Supervisor Brian Campbell and Putnam Supervisor John LaPointe voted against the measure on Friday, and Easton Supervisor John Rymph abstained from voting. Idleman cast her vote against the measure, because she wanted more information about industrial hemp processing, and consideration of the value of the crop per acre.

“I would like to see a more comprehensive look at this and more discussion on the topic with our growers and producers,” Idleman said.

Idleman chairs the county Board of Supervisors Agriculture and Planning Committee, which voted 4-3 last month to move the resolution along to the full board. Before the committee vote, supervisors hosted a discussion with some farmers from the county, who presented diverse views on whether supervisors should take up the industrial hemp cause.

Some of the resolution’s opponents have questioned whether a market for industrial hemp exists, while others see it as a potential cash crop for the agricultural county.

“This resolution doesn’t mandate anything,” Haff said. If legalized, it would be up to farmers whether to grow industrial hemp, he said. “Why would you not allow it?”