Nelson native has high hopes for hemp production

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LYNCHBURG — Jerry Thornton has a plan he believes will create jobs, save trees and preserve farmland in Nelson County.

The initiative is to start growing hemp, an alternative crop that Thornton, founder of Commonwealth Hemp, believes can help residents build their own businesses.

“Farming is kind of dying,” said Thornton, who lives in Arlington but was raised in Nelson. “I’ve been down [in Nelson] my whole life. This would give people an alternative for income. There are a lot of opportunities in rural spaces to grow. The county is so peaceful. Every time I drive down, I see different landscapes. We want to provide something for farmers and give them a reason to stay.”

But there’s one huge roadblock in his way — growing hemp is illegal in the United States, at least for now, though importing hemp is permitted.

 

Although many associate the plant with marijuana, Thornton said, hemp is a variety of the cannabis plant that contains less than 0.03 percent THC, which is the principal active substance in marijuana. Contrasted to that, marijuana contains roughly 3 percent to 15 percent THC, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Hemp cannot get you high,” Thornton said. “You can’t smoke it. You can try, but it would probably get you really sick.”

 

But Thornton hopes to seize upon a growing movement to legalize growing the plant.

 

The U.S. has been strictly enforcing regulations and restrictions on cannabis since the 1930s,

 

Thornton said. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 classified all varieties of cannabis as a drug and was the first federal law restricting hemp production. The Controlled Substance Act in 1970 declared all cannabis varieties as a controlled substance and completely outlawed hemp, according to the text of the act posted on the Schaffer Library of Drug Policy.

 

Virginia House joint resolutions in 1999 and 2001 petitioned the Drug Enforcement Agency and Congress to consider legalizing industrial hemp, saying it would be a valuable and worthwhile product for the state, according to the text of the resolution. The resolution was passed by the state House and Senate and was sent to the DEA and Congress.

 

In 2013, the federal Industrial Hemp Farming Act was introduced in Congress, and would exclude “industrial hemp” from the definition of marijuana. According to the official Congress website, as of April 2013, the act had been referred to the Congress Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations.

 

In February, the U.S. Senate passed the Farm Bill, which allows states that have legalized the manufacturing of hemp to administer pilot programs with universities for research and education, according to the text of the bill.

 

“That’s when we started jumping on it,” Thornton said. “We’ve been working on it for a few years, reading regulations, until the government did something. There was nothing to be done until the Farm Bill.”

 

Now Thornton is working at the state level to try to get the General Assembly to push for the legalization of hemp and begin its own pilot program.

 

Michael Lachance, extension agent at the Nelson County office of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, said hemp could, without a doubt, grow in Nelson, thanks to the river bottoms along the James River that are well suited for the crop.

 

Thornton said industrial hemp is beneficial in many ways. He described hemp as a “mop crop,” which means it can suck impurities out of the soil and be used as a rotational crop that can be mixed with other crops. Hemp also can be used to create paper. While some trees for paper production may take 20 years to grow, he said, hemp can be grown in one season.

 

“I have found the community supports it,” Thornton said. “People just don’t know it’s an option. Education is a huge part of this. This is purely for industrial use.”

 

Lachance said the extension offices, as well as Virginia Tech, are interested in alternative crops such as kenaf, which doesn’t have the social stigma of marijuana. He said he is intrigued and will explore the economics, opportunities and liabilities for the crop.

 

“There are other fiber crops remaining to be explored for its utility and profitability in the world market,” Lachance said. “But if [Thornton] is just going for natural fibers, he should broaden his search for things that are less controversial.”

 

Industrial hemp has a long way to go, Thornton said, and it will take some time to regulate so it couldn’t be concentrated and sold as something to be ingested or as a tobacco alternative.

Thornton said hemp has many different uses, including clothing, cosmetics, textiles, medicines and even food. In 2012, the Hemp Industries Association estimated that the U.S. total retail value of hemp products, which are legal when imported, was nearly $500 million.

 

Calgary-based Motive Industries Inc. has even designed an eco-friendly car made from hemp.

“There are ridiculous amounts of ways to use it,” Thornton said.