Bill to Decriminalize Industrial Hemp Introduced in Tennessee

By Scott Gacek
Source: thedailychronic.net

NASHVILLE, TN — Lawmakers in Tennessee have introduced a pair of bills that would remove industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana, decriminalizing the cultivation of the crop.

The bills would not establish specific licensing requirements for hemp cultivation, but it would add industrial hemp to the definition of “farm product” in the Tennessee agricultural code, effectively removing all barriers to hemp cultivation in the state.

The bills, filed jointly in the House (HB 1392) and Senate (SB 1686), are sponsored by Sen. Frank Nicely (R-Strawberry Plains) and Rep Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby).

Sen. Nicely says that allowing hemp cultivation in Tennessee could prove to be a financial boon for the state’s farmers. Sales of hemp products in the United States have grown steadily since 1990 to achieve over $500 million in annual sales in 2012.

The key to the bill’s passage, he says, is educating fellow lawmakers about the differences between industrial hemp and marijuana.

“Their biggest fear is that, if they support hemp, people will think they support marijuana,” says Sen. Nicely.  “Marijuana is a cousin of hemp, but cornbread is a cousin of moonshine.”

Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia have defined industrial hemp as a distinct agricultural crop and removed barriers to its production.  Legislation is pending in several other states to do the same.

Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa that contains only trace (less than one percent) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis.

Farmers worldwide grow hemp commercially for fiber, seed, and oil for use in a variety of industrial and consumer products, including food and clothing.

Over thirty countries produce industrial hemp, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine.

The United States is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop, according to the Congressional Resource Service.

The world’s leader in hemp production is China