Fort Collins' New Belgium Brewing joins pro-hemp campaign

Source: reporterherald.com

American Hemp Campaign will launch July 4 and work to change laws in U.S.

Fort Collins craft brewer New Belgium Brewing, which recently released a hemp-based beer, has joined with Willie Nelson's cannabis company GCH and a hemp advocacy group to launch the American Hemp Campaign.

The campaign, which will work to change laws to allow commercial hemp farming in the United States, will launch on the Fourth of July, according to a press release from the Vermont-based Vote Hemp advocacy organization.

According to the release, the farming of hemp — a relative of marijuana that has low levels of psychoactive THC and is grown for its oil and fibers — is still heavily restricted in the U.S.

Hemp production is legal in Colorado but regulated by the state Department of Agriculture. The plant has a wide range of uses, including rope, cloth, paper, construction materials, food, oils and lotions, including products containing CBD oil, which is believed to have health benefits.

"At New Belgium, we launched a hemp-based beer, The Hemperor HPA, this spring, and the regulatory hurdles to get to market just seemed outrageously outdated and onerous," New Belgium CEO Steve Fechheimer said in the release.

"Beer is an agricultural product, and we see hemp as a potentially game-changing ingredient in brewing, so we are proud to take a stand along with Willie and the Vote Hemp folks to get these laws updated to benefit beer drinkers and farmers across the country," Fechheimer said.

The release quoted a Congressional Research Service report released last month that said "the U.S. market is largely dependent on imports, both as finished hemp-containing products and as ingredients for use in further processing (mainly from Canada and China)."

The campaign will focus on educating lawmakers, opinion leaders and the public about the economic benefits of hemp production in the United States, the release said.

"Vote Hemp has been working for many years to bring back hemp farming in America," Eric Steenstra, president and co-founder of Vote Hemp, said in the release. "Lifting our nation's outdated restrictions on domestic hemp production will fuel job creation across several business sectors and provide family farmers with a valuable new crop."