http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2013/sep/12/hemp_and_new_federal_marijuana
It’s not just medical and legal marijuana states that watched the Justice Department’s announcement of its response to marijuana law reforms in the states with interest. Nine states have laws regulating the production of industrial hemp, and ten more have asked Congress to remove barriers to industrial hemp production.
Rep. Massie, Comm. Comer & Rep. Polis (Vote Hemp via youtube)
Hemp is also moving in the Congress. An amendment to the Farm Bill cosponsored by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Jared Polis (D-CO) passed the House on a vote of 225-200 in July and will now go to a joint House-Senate conference committee. And the Industrial Hemp Farming Act (House Resolution 525 and Senate Bill 359) is pending in both chambers.
At a Tuesday Capitol Hill briefing organized by the industry group Vote Hemp (video embedded below), state and federal elected officials said they thought the Justice Department’s policy directive on marijuana opened the door not just to regulated medical and legal marijuana, but also to industrial hemp production. Some states intend to move forward, they said.
"That Department of Justice ruling pertained to cannabis," said Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner John Comer, "and hemp has always been banned because it’s in the cannabis family. The Department of Justice ruling pertained to states with a regulatory framework for cannabis, and we feel that includes hemp as well. Our legislation set up a regulatory framework."
The legislation Comer is referring to is Kentucky Senate Bill 50, the Bluegrass State’s industrial hemp bill, which passed the legislature with bipartisan support, gained endorsements by both of the state’s Republican US senators, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, and became law without the governor’s signature in April. It establishes an Industrial Hemp Commission and sets up procedures for licensing farming and processing.
"We have a hemp commission meeting Thursday, and we are going to request that Rand Paul send a letter to the DEA telling them we intend to get going next year unless the Department of Justice tells us otherwise," Comer said. "We are taking a very proactive stance in Kentucky. We’ve been trying to replace tobacco, and hemp is an option not only for our farmers, but it could also create manufacturing jobs in our rural communities."
The commission did meet Thursday, and it voted unanimously to move forward with industrial hemp production, aiming at producing hemp next year.
"That’s our first goal, to get the crop established. Then, once companies and industries see that we have a crop here established and growing, we believe industries will start coming here looking for it instead of importing it from other countries," said Brian Furnish, chairman of the Industrial Hemp Commission, after the Thursday vote.
According to Vote Hemp, Kentucky isn’t the only state planning on moving forward with hemp next year. Vermont just released its Hemp Registration Form that allows farmers to apply for hemp permits and the Colorado Department of Agriculture is developing regulations to license hemp farmers in 2014. North Dakota has issued permits for several years now.
Imported hemp is now a $500 million a year industry, Vote Hemp’s Eric Steenstra said.
Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY), who also played an important role in passing the Kentucky bill and who is a cosponsor of the House hemp bill, said he was encouraged by the Justice Department policy directive, but that it was not enough.
"We need more than a Justice Department ruling," he told the press conference. "As a farmer and entrepreneur, I want some certainty. I want a legislative remedy for this, and that’s why I continue to push hard for our bill, which would exclude hemp from definition as a controlled substance."
Vote Hemp’s Eric Steenstra
But while the House hemp bill now has 47 cosponsors, it still has a long row to hoe. The hemp amendment to the Farm Bill, which would allow hemp production for university research purposes, has already passed the House and awaits action in conference committee.
"If you can attach an amendment to a spending bill, then you can get action," said Massie. "I have to give credit to Rep. Polis for doing this. This is a farm issue, not a drug issue. And while there was debate over whether it was wise to even have a vote, it passed. People decided spontaneously to vote for it as an amendment."
While the Senate has not passed a similar provision, Massie said he was hopeful that it would make it through conference committee.
"There is no equivalent in the Senate, there is no companion amendment, but we do have [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell, who is all for it," he said. "I’m hopeful it will survive, and we’ll continue to work on the standalone hemp bill."
"It was important to get the House language in the Farm Bill," said Polis. "Not only does it allow universities to do research that is needed, but it also symbolically moves forward with embracing the potential for industrial hemp production."
Polis said he was cheered by the Justice Department’s policy directive when it came to hemp.
"They listed eight enforcement priorities, and industrial hemp isn’t even on the enforcement radar," the Boulder congressman said. "We see no federal interest in going after states or hemp producers. The risk is minimal. But minimal isn’t good enough for some folks, and that’s why we want to continue to gather support for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act. You don’t want to have to depend on a federal prosecutor or the attorney general not getting up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning."
Industrial hemp may be an afterthought for Justice Department policy setters, but the recent guidance has emboldened hemp advocates to push forward faster than ever. Getting hemp research approved in the Farm Bill would be a good first step; passing the Industrial Hemp Act would be even better. But it doesn’t look like some states are going to wait for Congress to act.
http://www.state-journal.com/latest%20headlines/2013/09/12/state-to-move-forward-with-hemp-regs
The Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission voted to move forward with writing regulations for a hemp farming permit program Thursday, as Attorney General Jack Conway considers the impact of a U.S. Department of Justice memo on recreational marijuana.
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture will begin drafting the new regulations on industrial hemp licensing after the Department of Justice issued a memo stating the agency would not prosecute states that regulate and tax the sale of marijuana with some exceptions, such as restricting out-of-state sale of the drug and keeping revenue out of the hands of cartels and gangs.
Department of Agriculture officials see the memo as a green light for hemp farming in Kentucky after Senate Bill 50 passed the General Assembly earlier this year and established a regulatory framework for hemp cultivation.
“I’m confident that the regulations that are developed in Kentucky for the oversight of industrial hemp will be strongly enforced, and I’m confident that whatever regs are developed will pass muster,†said Luke Morgan, a contracted attorney with the Department of Agriculture.
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul will co-sign a letter to the Department of Justice, letting the agency know of Kentucky’s plans to farm industrial hemp.
But Maj. Anthony Terry with Kentucky State Police, a member of the hemp commission, said the Department of Justice memo does not change federal and state laws regarding cannabis.
Allison Martin, Conway’s spokeswoman, said
Conway is reviewing the memo and will issue an advisory letter on its effect in Kentucky within the next few weeks.
After the meeting, Comer said he was surprised to hear of the attorney general’s upcoming opinion on the Department of Justice memo. He said he has not spoken with anyone from the attorney general’s office on the matter, but he’s hopeful Conway will “treat this issue fairly and help to move this industry forward.â€
“We have an open door policy to anyone, and we would look forward to having discussions with anyone in the attorney general’s office,†Comer said. “We had no idea that they were even debating or contemplating any type of ruling until the state police mentioned that today.â€
Holly Harris, Comer’s chief of staff, said Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole has made clear that properly regulated industrial hemp programs would not be prosecuted by the federal government.
She said SB 50 made hemp legal in Kentucky, though the botanical cousin to marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
“The attorney general’s opinion is just that — it’s another lawyer’s opinion,†Morgan said. “We’re hopeful that he sees it in the way that the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency have seen this.â€
Martin said Conway’s opinion is paramount to the issue of whether the Department of Justice memo clears the path for industrial hemp farming across the state.
“The attorney general is the attorney general of Kentucky, and it falls to him to interpret how that affects Kentucky’s law,†she said.
Comer said he expects the hemp licensing regulations will easily move through the approval process given the support industrial hemp received in the General Assembly. The plant could be in the ground by April, when the next planting season begins.
The crop probably will not surpass staples such as corn, tobacco and soybeans, but industrial hemp will provide new opportunities for Kentucky farmers, Comer said. During the meeting, Comer noted a number of representatives from various industries — including equine, poultry and automotive — have contacted him with interest in hemp products.
“I think that this is a very exciting first step, and we’ll just have to see,†Comer said. “History will decide whether this was a defining moment in Kentucky agriculture or not.â€
Preaching to the choir here, but remember during ww2 and around 100 years ago, hemp seed oil was used to power trains, planes, some cars, heating oil, a source of energy,
that the government surpressed except during WW2 when fuel oil was in short supply, the government grew weed for fuel, hemp can really cut our importing of oil from
those that hate us…. That’s the part of the story most do not know about…
Don’t Date Robots! The world is trained to ignore everything unless it comes from the church, their TV, celebrities, or the media.
we need something to replace the coal industry here…it is on the way out..and 95% of our population works in the mines.
As we work the soil we cultivate the sky–
(quote from spirit in seance, Coil song "broccoli" )
And if you see your mom this weekend, tell her I said
Satan Satan Satan Satan
Sweet. :goodpost
"Your as mighty as the flower that grows the stones away"
Hell to the yeah. :rock:
We’ve got the perfect climate, lots of experience, and a workforce ready to get down and dirty with it.
Hemp is plainly a superior alternative to so many current products and processes…
I’ll never forget the day I met Gatewood, rest his soul. He wasn’t driving the hempmobile that day, but his straight talk and air of authority made quite the impression on my young roommates and I. He was the first person to make us think that we might actually have the proverbial snowball’s chance at making this happen, with enough resolve and tenacity. That was over 20 years ago.
One hell of an awesome human being, and I know he’d be proud to see his dream coming closer to fruition.
Perfect Plant? 7 Great Uses For Industrial Hemp
1. Clothing
Hemp’s been used for textiles since time immemorial–samples of hemp fabric in China date back to 8,000 BC–though it has certainly had a renaissance of late. Shedding the slightly rough and tough image it once had hemp has broken into the realms of high fashion, has been mixed with silk for lingerie, as well as being applied to more obvious applications where it’s durability is used to best advantage: Providing material for shoes, jeans, and other tough sport clothing.
2. Food & Beverages
About one third of hemp seed’s weight comes from hemp oil, which is both edible but highly nutritious, containing essential fatty acids. The whole seed is about 25% protein, and is a a good source of calcium and iron, as well as having more omega-3 than walnuts–all of which point to hemp’s potential for food and as a dietary supplement. But hemp also can be put to good use in iced tea and brewed into beer, fermented into wine, and distilled into other alcoholic beverages. Oh, and there’s hemp milk too.
3. Paper
Hemp has been used for paper for at least 2,000 years, even though today hemp paper accounts for about only 0.05% of world paper production. Even though hemp is a far more quickly renewable and sustainable source of pulp for paper, because of the small number and relatively old age of processing equipment for hemp paper, help pulp ends up being several times more expensive than wood pulp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjhzo1Y38uI
4. Building Supplies
Of all the uses for hemp, even if you only have a cursory knowledge of the subject you’re probably away of hemp fabric, clothing and paper, but here’s one that’s an eye-opener: Hemp provides all sorts of good building materials. You can make it into insulation as companies in the Netherlands and Ireland are doing. It can be used to make engineered building products like fiberboard and pressboard, and even be used to make ‘hempcrete’, a stronger, lighter, and more environmentally friendly version of concrete.
5. Plastics
Hemp is also a viable feedstock for plastics production. Indeed Ford famously produced a prototype car made out of hemp & soy plastic in the early 1940s. Though it never went into production, with undue influence from chemical giant DuPont playing at least a part, as the photo above, of Henry Ford taking an axe to the car to prove its durability, shows hemp plastic can be strong stuff. More recently hemp has been made into shower curtain liners, CD & DVD cases, and all sorts of other products.
6. Fuel
Yes, you can make biofuel from hemp! Like pretty much any vegetable oil you can take hemp oil and process it into biodiesel. You still have all the concerns about conversion of land that could be used for food production into land used to fuel vehicles, but the biodiesel process is certainly solid. As cellulosic ethanol technology becomes more commercial viable–something seemingly just over the horizon for a couple of years now–there’s no reason why you couldn’t utilize hemp stalks or other leftovers as a feedstock. Considering all that, it stands to reason that hemp could also be utilized to make liquid fuels that are chemically identical to petroleum-based gasoline or diesel as well. But since the US doesn’t want anyone cultivating hemp, the potential of hemp for fuel remains untapped.
7. Chemical Cleanup
One of the most intriguing uses for hemp is in cleaning up soil contamination. In the late 1990s industrial hemp was tested at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine to help heal the soil. Because of its fast rate of growing each season, up to 250-400 plants per square meter each up to 15 feet tall, hemp shows good potential in cleaning up land contaminated with fly ash, sewage sludge, or other heavy metals–though hemp’s use in phytoremediation on any scale is in its infancy.
Source: http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/perfect-plant-7-great-uses-for-industrial-hemp.html
It feels good to be running from the devil
Another breath and I'm up another level
It feels good to be up above the clouds
It feels good for the first time in a long time now
Perfect Plant? 7 Great Uses For Industrial Hemp
1. Clothing
Hemp’s been used for textiles since time immemorial–samples of hemp fabric in China date back to 8,000 BC–though it has certainly had a renaissance of late. Shedding the slightly rough and tough image it once had hemp has broken into the realms of high fashion, has been mixed with silk for lingerie, as well as being applied to more obvious applications where it’s durability is used to best advantage: Providing material for shoes, jeans, and other tough sport clothing.
2. Food & Beverages
About one third of hemp seed’s weight comes from hemp oil, which is both edible but highly nutritious, containing essential fatty acids. The whole seed is about 25% protein, and is a a good source of calcium and iron, as well as having more omega-3 than walnuts–all of which point to hemp’s potential for food and as a dietary supplement. But hemp also can be put to good use in iced tea and brewed into beer, fermented into wine, and distilled into other alcoholic beverages. Oh, and there’s hemp milk too.3. Paper
Hemp has been used for paper for at least 2,000 years, even though today hemp paper accounts for about only 0.05% of world paper production. Even though hemp is a far more quickly renewable and sustainable source of pulp for paper, because of the small number and relatively old age of processing equipment for hemp paper, help pulp ends up being several times more expensive than wood pulp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjhzo1Y38uI
4. Building Supplies
Of all the uses for hemp, even if you only have a cursory knowledge of the subject you’re probably away of hemp fabric, clothing and paper, but here’s one that’s an eye-opener: Hemp provides all sorts of good building materials. You can make it into insulation as companies in the Netherlands and Ireland are doing. It can be used to make engineered building products like fiberboard and pressboard, and even be used to make ‘hempcrete’, a stronger, lighter, and more environmentally friendly version of concrete.
5. Plastics
Hemp is also a viable feedstock for plastics production. Indeed Ford famously produced a prototype car made out of hemp & soy plastic in the early 1940s. Though it never went into production, with undue influence from chemical giant DuPont playing at least a part, as the photo above, of Henry Ford taking an axe to the car to prove its durability, shows hemp plastic can be strong stuff. More recently hemp has been made into shower curtain liners, CD & DVD cases, and all sorts of other products.
6. Fuel
Yes, you can make biofuel from hemp! Like pretty much any vegetable oil you can take hemp oil and process it into biodiesel. You still have all the concerns about conversion of land that could be used for food production into land used to fuel vehicles, but the biodiesel process is certainly solid. As cellulosic ethanol technology becomes more commercial viable–something seemingly just over the horizon for a couple of years now–there’s no reason why you couldn’t utilize hemp stalks or other leftovers as a feedstock. Considering all that, it stands to reason that hemp could also be utilized to make liquid fuels that are chemically identical to petroleum-based gasoline or diesel as well. But since the US doesn’t want anyone cultivating hemp, the potential of hemp for fuel remains untapped.
7. Chemical Cleanup
One of the most intriguing uses for hemp is in cleaning up soil contamination. In the late 1990s industrial hemp was tested at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine to help heal the soil. Because of its fast rate of growing each season, up to 250-400 plants per square meter each up to 15 feet tall, hemp shows good potential in cleaning up land contaminated with fly ash, sewage sludge, or other heavy metals–though hemp’s use in phytoremediation on any scale is in its infancy.
Source: http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/perfect-plant-7-great-uses-for-industrial-hemp.html
you forgot the best use of all.. the sweet buds that produce that awesome feeling we all love
Hell to the yeah. :rock:
We’ve got the perfect climate, lots of experience, and a workforce ready to get down and dirty with it.
Hemp is plainly a superior alternative to so many current products and processes…
I’ll never forget the day I met Gatewood, rest his soul. He wasn’t driving the hempmobile that day, but his straight talk and air of authority made quite the impression on my young roommates and I. He was the first person to make us think that we might actually have the proverbial snowball’s chance at making this happen, with enough resolve and tenacity. That was over 20 years ago.
One hell of an awesome human being, and I know he’d be proud to see his dream coming closer to fruition.
I met him too..a soul born before his time..
Awesome Post Cid thanks.