Earlier this week, the Drug Enforcement Administration ordered that 250 pounds of hemp seed be…
Tag: hemp
State lawmakers have signed off on legislation, Senate Bill 2495/House Bill 2445, to reclassify and regulate industrial hemp.
House and Senate lawmakers have signed off on legislation, Senate Bill 357, to reclassify and regulate industrial hemp. As passed, the measure redefines cannabis possessing less than 0.3 percent THC as an industrial crop. It also seeks to establish licensing requirements and regulations governing the production of and commerce in hemp, as well as for the scientific study of the crop.
Congressional lawmakers last week approved language authorizing state universities and agriculture departments to move forward with programs to cultivate industrial hemp for research purposes. The provisions allow for the cultivation industrial hemp in agricultural pilot programs in states that already permit the growth and cultivation of the plant. A 2013 white paper published by the Congressional Research Service concludes: “[A] commercial hemp industry in the United States could provide opportunities as an economically viable alternative crop for some US growers.”
The New Jersey Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted 4-1 in favor of Assembly…
UPDATE: For unrelated reasons, the final House version of the FARRM bill was voted down…
Governor John Hickenlooper has signed legislation, Senate Bill 241, into law creating a new program within the Department of Agriculture to oversee the regulation of commercial hemp production. Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa that contains only minute (less than 1%) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Senate Bill 241 classifies cannabis possessing no more than three-tenths of one percent THC as an agricultural commodity and establishes a 9-member committee within the state Department of Agriculture to oversee the creation of regulations governing the licensed cultivation of hemp for commercial and research purposes. The Department must adopt regulations for the new program no later than March 1, 2014.
It is possible that, for the first time ever, the United States Senate will vote…