Source: theland.com.au
FIERY Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham told a NSW budget estimates hearing that he ate cannabis for breakfast to show the potential value of the hemp food industry.
Mr Buckingham - who in May "vaped" inside the upper house chamber to prove a point on e-cigarette laws - admitted to Ag Minister Niall Blair he had "broken the law" by consuming cannabis seeds that morning.
Mr Buckingham followed his admission by asking Mr Blair why a potentially lucrative hemp-food industry was being stifled in NSW.
"Minister you may or may not be surprised that this morning I consumed cannabis. I broke the law" Mr Buckingham said.
"Why is the NSW government standing in the way of a billion-dollar hemp food industry and refusing to allow hemp seed to be grown, sold and consumed in NSW?"
Mr Buckingham later posed for photos in the press gallery with a bowl of seeds from Hemp Foods Australia.
Mr Blair said while he was open to hemp products being eaten in NSW, the product needed further safety guarantees.
"In January 2015 the ministerial forum on food regulation agreed that hemp food is a safe and nutritious food, rejected an application to allow the sale of no-THC hemp food products in consumption," Mr Blair said.
"The application was rejected for a range of reasons that do not directly relate to safety as a food. The application sought to legalise the sale of hemp food provided the concentration of THC is below specified levels to ensure no psychoactive effects."
Budget estimates concludes today after hearings with Environment Minister Mark Speakman, Emergency Services Minister David Elliott. Regional Development Minister John Barilaro, and Local Government minister Paul Toole.
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