A Kentucky circuit court judge upheld a trial court decision declaring that there exists a legal difference between industrial hemp and marijuana.
The decision was the second victory for Hollywood actor and industrial hemp proponent Woody Harrelson, who was arrested last June for planting four hemp seeds. Harrelson planted the seeds to deliberately challenge the state law forbidding the cultivation of all varieties of cannabis sativa. Harrelson called the law excessively broad and argued that marijuana prohibition never intended to outlaw legitimate hemp farming.
In January, Lee District Judge Ralph McClanahan II agreed with Harrelson and ruled that Kentucky’s ban on marijuana was “unconstitutionally defective due to its overbroad application.” McClanahan called the current law “an arbitrary exercise of power by the General Assembly over the lives and property of free men.”
Circuit Court Judge William Trude upheld the lower court’s decision on July 3. Lee County Attorney Tom Jones said he will take the case to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
Standing on the steps of courthouse shortly after the ruling, Harrelson declared the day as “Independence day for Kentucky’s farmers.” Harrelson explained that Kentucky was once the number one hemp producer in America and expressed confidence that it would soon be again.
Often described as marijuana’s misunderstood cousin, industrial hemp is from the same plant species that produces marijuana. Unlike marijuana, however, industrial hemp has only minute amounts of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient that gives marijuana its euphoric and medicinal properties. Currently most of Europe and Asia grow hemp for industrial purposes. Both Australia and Canada engage in hemp cultivation for research purposes.
Recently, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) representative Gregory Williams testified before the Kentucky General Assembly that the agency remains strongly opposed to the legalization of industrial hemp. He also stated that anyone seeking to grow plots of industrial hemp must first receive approval from the federal agency, regardless of whether such cultivation is permitted under state law. Williams testified that the DEA has rejected all recent applications.
For more information, please contact either Burl McCoy, attorney for Woody Harrelson and a member of NORML’s National Legal Committee, at (606) 254-6363 or Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.