Source: providencejournal.com
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Should Rhode Island get into the hemp business?
A bill proposing to legalize the growth and sale of hemp in the state will see a hearing Wednesday that’s likely to raise questions about the somewhat foggy lines of the industrial hemp market.
Both hemp and marijuana come from the same plant species — cannabis sativa. Hemp was once freely grown in the country and can be used to make fabrics, paper, soaps and lotions, among other products. But hemp, which has a comparatively low level of the psychoactive ingredient THC responsible for the “high” sensation, was outlawed federally as a controlled substance in the 1970s, and federal law currently makes no distinction between the two.
A bill sponsored by Burrillville Democrat Rep. Cale Keable proposes to legalize the growth and sale of hemp products, including oil, cloth, fiber, good, paint, paper and seeds. It also legalizes something called “CDB-rich hemp,” a product that has been treated as a form of medical marijuana in other states. Such strains have gotten national attention in Colorado where oil extracted from the plant has been used as a treatment for epilepsy.
CDB-rich hemp has a high concentration of cannabidiol, an ingredient in cannabis that some say has medical benefits; it also has a low concentration of the psychoactive element responsible for a “high.” CDB-rich hemp in Keable’s proposal is defined as having less than 1 percent THC but more than 15 percent CBD. The bill defines any other hemp as having a THC concentration of 3 percent or less. (At a meeting of the American Chemical Society last year, one lab authorized to do potency testing in Colorado reported THC levels in tested marijuana as high as 30 percent, compared with levels of less than 10 percent 30 years ago.)
Keable said he’s not even sure if legalization is a good idea. He said he sponsored the measure after he was approached by former House Speaker William J. Murphy, a lobbyist who is representing a pharmaceutical company involved with hemp products.
“Bill and I talked about the merits of hemp and the things it could be used for ... . He asked me if I would be willing to introduce this, and I said I would,” Keable said.
“I don’t really have an opinion on it. I don’t know if it’s a great bill, a good bill or a bad bill .... I’m introducing it to give people an opportunity to speak about the merits or demerits of legalized hemp.”
Murphy is getting $3,000 a month to represent the interests of Phyto Pharmaceuticals LLC, which registered as a business on March 25. (Murphy didn’t return a call for this story. Attorney Michael A. Kelly, who is listed as the company’s registering agent in state documents, also could not be reached.)
Thirteen states, including Vermont, allow industrial hemp programs similar to the proposal. Hemp’s proponents nationally say it’s a way to boost agriculture and help struggling economies, but because hemp still contains THC, it’s been banned under federal law.
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin opposes the bill, in part because regulation will be difficult.
“Not only would it have a tremendous administrative and investigatory burden on the regulatory agencies, but [it] would further hinder the investigation of criminal marijuana cultivations by law enforcement. If the THC level is going to be the only distinguishing factor between industrial hemp and criminal marijuana, it will require constant and massive testing of THC levels,” Kilmartin’s spokeswoman Amy Kempe said.
Rhode Island began permitting the use of medical marijuana in 2006. The state has no regulations regarding THC content in medical marijuana.
CDB-rich cannabis gained attention in 2012 after national media highlighted the the story of a Colorado resident Paige Figi, who sought such a strain under Colorado’s medical marijuana program for her then 5-year-old daughter. Figi’s daughter, Charlotte, had a condition that resulted in hundreds of seizures each week, but the seizures reportedly were nearly stopped after the child was given the drug in the form of an extracted oil.
The federal government however has taken issue with some companies purporting to sell products labeled as “hemp oil” or “CDB oil.”
In February, the Food and Drug Administration sent letters to several companies dealing in “CDB products,” warning them to stop marketing their products as beneficial treatments for skin conditions, cancer, and panic attacks, among other ailments. Federal officials testing the products also found that several companies were selling products that contained little or none of the CDB they claimed to have.
“It is important to note that these products are not approved by FDA for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any disease, and often they do not even contain the ingredients found on the label. Consumers should beware purchasing and using any such products,” the FDA said in a statement about the letters.
jbogdan@providencejournal.com
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