Red herrings in debate over hemp

Editorial,  HERALD-LEADER 
Source: kentucky.com

Kentucky big pot grower despite hemp ban

House Speaker Greg Stumbo is vowing to give law enforcement's concerns great credence in the hemp debate. He should also consider the lessons of the past 50 years.

Since Congress outlawed the production of industrial hemp, the use of marijuana has skyrocketed.

Cannabis sativa has become such an accepted and widespread part of American culture that 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical uses.

Last November, voters in Washington and Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana. And many states and municipalities have moved toward decriminalizing marijuana use — all while industrial hemp has been outlawed.

The ban on hemp clearly has failed to discourage the spread of marijuana. In fact, marijuana enjoys much greater popularity and acceptance today than it did when Kentucky farms grew lush crops of Cannabis sativa for industrial use.

Law-enforcement officials, notably Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer, have raised specific concerns that growers of illegal marijuana would use legal hemp fields as camouflage if the crop is reinstated.

Pot growers already have made the Appalachian region of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia second only to California in domestic marijuana production, according to drug control agents.

Why would pot growers, who already know how to hide their crops, try to conceal illegal marijuana within a crop that has been licensed by the government and would be subject to inspection?

They wouldn't, which is why in 25 years of legalized hemp in Canada, inspectors have never found marijuana hiding amongst the hemp.

Stumbo's skepticism about the economics is reasonable. Hemp won't be the single salvation of rural Kentucky, or a replacement for tobacco, which was an economic mainstay because of the now-defunct federal price-support program.

But hemp's revival as a cash crop could create a niche for some growers, processors and manufacturers, a market that would grow as uses for this versatile plant expand.

Senate Bill 50, which unanimously cleared a Senate committee Monday, would enable Kentucky to quickly license hemp growers as soon as the feds allow it. Kentucky, for once, would be poised to take utmost advantage of an opportunity.

Given the weakness of the arguments against and the groundswell of bipartisan support for the crop, Stumbo's opposition would likely be viewed as political: a Democrat's desire to deny Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer a victory.

Stumbo and his House Democrats should think hard about whether that's the image they want for themselves.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/13/2514642/red-herrings-in-debate-over-hemp.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/13/2514642/red-herrings-in-debate-over-hemp.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/13/2514642/red-herrings-in-debate-over-hemp.html#storylink=cpy

A Sea Change for Hemp, Marijuana in the US?

Source: sustainablebusiness.com

Since Washington and Colorado passed referendums legalizing marijuana in November, all of sudden people seem to be warming to the idea of legalizing it nationwide and growing hemp in the US.

What a sea change!

A bill introduced by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) would remove marijuana and hemp from the control of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and authorize the Treasury Department to license state-authorized producers and distributors. Separate legislation from Rep. Earl Bluemenauer (D-OR) would create a federal excise tax structure for retail production and sales. 

Basically, marijuana and hemp would be regulated and taxed much like alcohol.

“This legislation doesn't force any state to legalize marijuana, but Colorado and the 18 other jurisdictions that have chosen to allow marijuana for medical or recreational use deserve the certainty of knowing that federal agents won’t raid state-legal businesses,” says Polis. “Congress should simply allow states to regulate marijuana as they see fit and stop wasting federal tax dollars on the failed drug war.” 

Another bill, the Respect States and Citizens Rights Act, introduced by a bipartisan coalition of US representatives, led by Rep. Diana Degette (D-CO), would prevent federal officials from interfering in Colorado's and Washington's newly enacted laws.

Will the bills pass? No, but alcohol prohibition didn't end until about a dozen states stood up.

Polling indicates that Americans are tired of the "war on drugs", which is not only a financial burden for the country but infringes on civil rights.

Recent polls show that 58% of voters believe marijuana "should be legal" and 53% believe "the government should treat marijuana the same as alcohol," and over 70% think the federal government should get out of the way of states that want to legalize it. Democrats and Independents are far more in favor of legalization that Republicans.

Growing Hemp

In Kentucky, Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce see growing hemp as an important route to economic development, and want the state to be the "king of hemp."

At least eight states have passed laws since 1996 that remove legal barriers to hemp farming, siting the economic benefits. Five of them – including Indiana, Vermont and Kentucky – are encouraging industrial-scale hemp farms, but that hasn't gone far.

Why? Because the DEA has to give a permit to grow hemp, and the agency considers it the same as marijuana - a drug.

"It could produce thousands of jobs," Kentucky agricultural commissioner James Comer told Bloomberg. "Industrial hemp is totally different than marijuana. It should be treated like corn or soybeans."

Consider the experience of David Monson from North Dakota, a state representative and wheat farmer who wanted to rotate his crops with hemp. Even though his state permit was approved, he was thwarted by the DEA application, which included a criminal background check and questions like, "Where are you going to sell this drug?" He decided not to grow it.

"I wasn't going to do it without a permit. They could threaten to take my farm," says Monson.

Although hemp and marijuana are "cousins" - it would take a telephone pole-sized joint to get high on hemp. Hemp is not a drug, another reason to take it out of the DEA's hands.

Ironically, hemp was widely grown in the US until the mid-1800s, when cotton became more widely used as fabric for clothing. The beneficial plant, which requires little fertilizer or pesticides, can be used to make a very wide range of products, from auto body parts to paper to soap.

Today, US businesses that make products from hemp have to import it, usually from Canada or China. More than 30 countries grow it as an agricultural commodity. 

US retail sales of products using imported hemp were $452 million in 2011, according to the Hemp Industries Association. 

The Other Side of Legalization

Those who grow marijuana illegally these days are afraid of legalization, because they fear small growers will quickly be booted out by big business.

Not only would the price drop, making it less profitable, they fear regulations and red tape so complicated that only giant corporate farmers could afford to grow it commercially.

Section 40 of Title 27 of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau's regulations has 534 subsections. You need a corporate lawyer on call to endure this document without a migraine. The system favors big producers, and Big Tobacco is ready. Philip Morris trademarked the brand "Marley" and Brown & Williamson see it as a new product line, reports Alternet.
Others see a role for small farmers the same as craft beers, and the public would benefit mightily from getting access to marijuana grown without pesticides.

Since there are no regulations for growing marijuana now, some growers douse it with heavy-duty pesticides, some not even approved for human consumption - they are allowed only on golf courses and lawns, for example.

Hemp Chocolate Truffles

by Chef Sara, Raw Vegas Cafe

Source: azfamily.com

Ingredients
1 cup coconut butter
3/4 cup raw cacao
1/4 cup chocolate nibs
1/2 t green stevia
1 T pure vanilla powder or 1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup hemp seeds
1/4 cup coconut oil

Instructions
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until it form into a ball. With a cookie scooper, form into small balls and roll each ball in hemp seeds and place in the fridge to set.

Options: You can roll it in cacao nibs, cacao powder or just scoop the chocolate into mini cups.

Senate committee approves hemp legislation

By BRUCE SCHREINER

Source: sfgate.com

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky Senate committee approved legislation Monday to regulate industrial hemp production if the now-illegal crop gains a federal reprieve, a step encouraged by such supporters as U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and former CIA director James Woolsey.

Supporters before the Senate Agriculture Committee touted hemp's potential as an alternative crop for farmers and a way to create jobs by turning hemp into products that include paper, clothing, auto parts, biofuels, food and lotions.

Kentucky once was a leading producer of industrial hemp, which the government once encouraged farmers to grow during World War II when other industrial fibers were scarce. But the leafy crop hasn't been grown in the U.S. for decades, ever since the federal government classified hemp as a controlled substance related to marijuana.

"I'm not up here saying this is the panacea that next year everybody is going to work for a hemp farmer," said Paul, a Kentucky Republican who wore a shirt of hemp material. "But why not legalize something that could produce jobs."

Woolsey said he became a hemp advocate because of the potential to boost rural economies. Others who promoted it at the committee hearing were U.S. Reps. John Yarmuth and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

U.S. retail sales of hemp products exceed $400 million per year, advocates say. Dozens of countries produce hemp commercially, and most imported hemp is grown in Canada and Europe.

The bill won unanimous committee approval despite the concerns of Kentucky State Police, the state's leading law enforcement agency.

State police Commissioner Rodney Brewer said law enforcement is unable to detect the difference between hemp and marijuana, its much more potent relative, without costly testing. Hemp has a negligible content of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high. "They are identical in appearance when it comes to the naked eye," Brewer said. "Science tells us that the only way to fully identify the difference."

That testing, he said, would add to the work load for overstrapped police labs when someone charged with marijuana possession claims they were caught with hemp.

Committee chairman Paul Hornback, the bill's lead sponsor, said he tried alleviate those concerns by limiting the transportation of hemp to those who have certification papers.

One powerful skeptic of the bill is House Speaker Greg Stumbo. The Prestonsburg Democrat told reporters later Monday that he needed assurances that hemp's "market viability and the benefit to the state would far outweigh the concerns of our law enforcement community."

"It's doesn't appear that there's a market for hemp," Stumbo said. "It does appear that the European countries and Canada have to use government monies to subsidize that industry and, at the present, I don't believe we could afford another government subsidy."

State Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who has championed the cause of reviving industrial hemp, has said he's been contacted by Kentucky businesses interested in it if the crop becomes legal.

But one committee member who voted for the bill, Republican Sen. Whitney Westerfield of Hopkinsville, said "not a single farmer ... has come to me and said 'I'd love to grow hemp instead of these record prices I'm getting on corn.'"

Under the bill, the state agriculture department would license hemp growers and production would be subject to inspection. Growers would undergo criminal background checks. A production license would be valid for one year and a grower would be limited to 10 acres for each license.

Comer and other supporters said hemp's reintroduction in Kentucky hinges on federal approval of the crop.

Bills being proposed in Congress would remove the federal restrictions on hemp production. Paul is leading the push in the Senate, and Massie is a primary sponsor of a House bill. Paul said he also would seek a federal waiver to allow for a resumption of hemp production in Kentucky if the legislation stalls.

The debate during the committee hearing revolved around law enforcement concerns that marijuana growers would try to infiltrate hemp fields to secretly grow pot.

Woolsey dismissed such worries, saying marijuana growers have not infiltrated hemp fields in the dozens of countries that allow hemp production.

Woolsey also downplayed concerns people could abuse hemp's negligible amount of THC. He likened trying to get high off hemp to trying to get drunk on non-alcoholic beer.

The bill now heads to the full Senate, but a couple of the chamber's Republicans leaders didn't say when the measure will be debated and voted on.

"I think it has a real good shot in the Senate," said Sen. Dan Seum of Louisville, the chamber's GOP caucus chairman.

U.S. congressmen, former CIA director to testify in support of Kentucky hemp bill

Staff Report
Source: lanereport.com


Industrial hemp is a fiber and oil seed crop with a 
wide variety of uses. Hemp fibers have been used 
to manufacture hundreds of products that include 
twine, paper, construction materials, carpeting 
and clothing.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, U.S. Reps. John Yarmuth and Thomas Massie, former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey (of the Clinton Administration), and Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer will testify next week in support of an industrialized hemp bill.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will hear the testimony Monday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. in Room 131 of the Capitol Annex in Frankfort. Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, establishes a framework to re-introduce industrial hemp into Kentucky’s agri-economy if and when the federal government acts to legalize it.

Immediately following the vote on SB 50, the group will move to Room 154 of the Capitol Annex to take questions from the media.

The bill has support from several groups and legislators. Its biggest critics are Operation UNITE, the Kentucky Narcotic Officers’ Association and the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police.

Operation UNITE said industrial hemp production in Kentucky is not economically sound, that it would impose an unnecessary financial burden on the state and could facilitate future efforts to legalize its cousin – marijuana. Police groups also say the legalization and growth of hemp in Kentucky would impede law enforcement officers’ marijuana eradication efforts, because “the plants are indistinguishable to the eye,” said Tommy Loving, executive director of the Kentucky Narcotic Officers’ Association.

The Kentucky Industrialized Hemp Commission says Kentucky has the perfect climate and soil to produce industrial hemp, and the farmers to grow it. Comer believes the crop could be a great economic boon to Kentucky.

The group recently commissioned an economic impact study to be performed by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. It hopes such a study could have an impact on the discussion at the federal level to legalize industrial hemp.

Caudill Seed becoming poster child for hemp legalization

By Kevin Eigelbach
Source: bizjournals.com


Pat Caudill, left, is pictured with Kentucky Agriculture 
Commissioner James Comer and Dan Caudill. The Caudill 
brothers are co-owners of Caudill Seed Co.

Louisville-based Caudill Seed Co. is quickly becoming the poster child for the legalization of hemp production in Kentucky.

The company has been featured in a CBS News report, on WDRB-TV in Louisville and in several newspaper articles, with owners Dan Caudill and Pat Caudill explaining what they think a legal hemp crop would mean for Kentucky and their company.

The two became interested in the issue when they met James Comer, now Kentucky’s Secretary of Agriculture, during his 2011 campaign for the office. Legalizing hemp to give Kentucky farmers a new revenue stream is one of Comer’s priorities.

Because it has so many hills, Kentucky has a lot of land that's only marginal for agriculture, Dan Caudill said in an interview. Hemp is an ideal crop for the state because it can grow nearly anywhere, just like tobacco.

Aside from farmers, the rest of the state would benefit if it could create hemp-processing facilities that would provide jobs, Caudill said. Hemp seeds can be processed into oil, and its tough fibers can be woven into fabrics to make clothes or entwined to make rope.

Every year, Caudill Seed imports from Brazil about 75 tractor/trailer loads of twine made from sisal that it distributes to farm retailers for bailing hay. The Caudill brothers would like to distribute rope made locally instead.

Chances of passage better than 50-50

The company expects to benefit from legalized hemp production in two ways, Dan Caudill said. It would be able to buy seed and sell it to farmers who want to grow hemp. And, it would process seed grown by Kentucky farmers and sell it to crushing companies that would extract the oil. 

Senate Bill 50, which would legalize hemp production in Kentucky if federal laws allow it, is scheduled for a hearing in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee of the Kentucky General Assembly at 11 a.m. Monday. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a R-Ky., and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, are scheduled to testify in favor of the bill.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer has said he opposes proposals to grow hemp in Kentucky because it’s too hard to distinguish between hemp and marijuana. The two plants are of the same species, but hemp has very little THC, which is the compound that gives marijuana users a high.

Dan Caudill feels that in spite of the opposition to the bill, the chances are better than 50-50 that the General Assembly will pass it this year.

“Most of the political people recognize the need for further diversification and the need to bring some jobs to the state,” he said.

Jim Hightower: Hemp a Common Sense Crop for America’s Common Good

By Jim Hightower
Source: noozhawk.com

Four years ago, first lady Michelle Obama picked up a shovel and made a powerful symbolic statement about America’s food and farm future: She turned a patch of White House lawn into a working organic garden.

That was a great move, earning kudos from just about everyone this side of Monsanto and the pesticide lobby. But now, as she begins another four years in the people’s mansion, the first lady is probably asking herself: “How can I top that? What can I do this time around to plant a crop of common sense in our country’s political soil that will link America’s farmers, consumers, environment and grassroots economy into one big harvest of common good?” 

Thanks for asking, Ms. Obama, and please allow me to intrude into your thoughts with a one-word suggestion: hemp. Plant a good, healthy stand of industrial hemp next to your organic garden!

This would, of course, drive the anti-drug zealots up the wall (a good place for them, I think). “Holy J. Edgar Hoover,” they’d scream, “hemp is a distant cousin of marijuana!”

Well, yes, but the industrial variety of cannabis lacks the psychoactive aspects of pot, so their hysteria is misplaced. Industrial hemp won’t make anyone high, but it certainly can make us happy, because it would deliver a new economic and environmental high for America.

Plus, hemp production is firmly rooted in American history. Question: Besides being founders of our republic, what did Thomas Jefferson and George Washington have in common? Answer: Both farmed hemp. Most of America’s founders were strong promoters of this extraordinarily useful agricultural crop, with Jefferson declaring it to be “of first necessity ... to the wealth and protection of the country.”

The first draft of our Constitution was written on hemp paper. “Old Ironsides” was powered by sails of hemp cloth. As late as World War II, the government urgently pushed farmers to grow the crop as part of a “Hemp for Victory” program.

So why are American farmers today prohibited from producing this patriotic, profitable, pesticide-free plant? 

Political nuttiness. Most recently, in a frenzy of reefer madness, U.S. drug police decided that President Dick Nixon’s Controlled Substance Act of 1970 not only outlawed marijuana, but also its non-narcotic cousin, industrial hemp. If ignorance is bliss, they must’ve been ecstatic, yet their nuttiness remains the law of our land today.

While our nation is the world’s biggest consumer of hemp products (from rope to shampoo, building materials to food), the mad masters of our insane “drug war” have lumped hemp and marijuana together as “Schedule 1 controlled substances” — making our Land of the Free the world’s only industrialized country that bans farmers from growing this benign, profitable, job-creating and environmentally beneficial plant.

Thus, the U.S.A. is consuming millions of dollars’ worth of products made from hemp, that hemp comes from producers in other countries, because our farmers aren’t allowed to grow it in the U.S.A. and reap the economic benefits here at home.

The good news, though, is that a wave of sanity is now wafting across America. In Colorado, for example, farmer Michael Bowman and Denver hemp advocate Lynda Parker helped pass Amendment 64 in last fall’s election. While it legalizes personal pot use, which got all the media attention, it also directs the legislature to set up a program for “the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp.”

Bowman now hopes to be the first American farmer in generations to plant a legal crop of it. Appropriately enough, he hopes to do so on April 30 — the 80th birthday of family-farmer hero and hemp champion Willie Nelson.

Even red states like Kentucky are on the move. Its Republican ag commissioner, backed by its Chamber of Commerce, is campaigning to legalize hemp farming there, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is co-sponsoring a national bill with Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden to take hemp off the controlled substance list.

As Bowman puts it: “Can we just stop being stupid?” 

To help move us in that direction, he’s seeking 100,000 signatures on a online petition requesting that President Barack Obama include the words “industrial hemp” in his Feb. 12 State of the Union speech. I’m sure the president would appreciate my advice on this, so I suggest he say: “First thing tomorrow morning, Michelle and I are going to give a symbolic jumpstart to the development of a thriving hemp industry in America by planting a stand of it on the White House lawn.”

To sign Bowman’s petition, click here to go to the White House website.

— Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker and author of Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow. Click here to contact him, follow him on Twitter: @JimHightower, or click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.