on my Hemp Diaries Facebook page:
The Industrial Hemp Farming Act is back — is this the year Congress legalizes the crop?A bipartisan group of lawmakers are again calling for industrial hemp to be legally separated from marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act, and advocates believe they might just have the political momentum to succeed.
Hemp is making the news. Check out my Facebook page on hemp
Minnesota tribe banking on hemp. This could really be the start of a lot of great things we can build on in the future,“ says tribal secretary-treasurer Tara Mason
The New Kale?
Hemp is the new kale in upstare New York. See my post of Bloomberg article on my Hemp Diaries Facebook page, Jul y15, 2017.
The article with link below also features a photo of myself with hemp fest organizer Jaramillo Peterson. It gives credit to Janet Cunningham as photographer.
URL
Hello Friends! Here is the link to my news article on hemp that appeared yesterday in WTOFile:
http://www.wyofile.com/column/hurdles-hemp-hurt-wyoming-farmers/
Hemp Diaries turned 2 today!
With Marie Jaramillo Peterson, both of us upbeat and optimistic
My talk at the hemp fest, submitted as op-ed to High Country News
The hemp festival in Alcoa, WY, was the first such venue since Wyoming legislators made it legal to grow hemp, initially as trial plots under the auspices of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA). the organizers had invited Hank Uhden of the WDA to present the agency’s point of view at the venue, which was held on June 17, 2017, but Mr. Uhden declined. WDA is charged with issuing licenses to farmers wishing to participate, and to implement regulations in keeping with the new law. It appears, however, the WDA is less than enthusiastic about hemp production in Wyoming.
First, the WDA convinced legislators to postpone the law’s effect until July 2018. July, of course, is too late to plant for that years’s season. Next, it issued a statement that, to implement the required testing, it would need equipment to the tune of $300,000 to $400,000 and that, since the legislation provides no funding, further delays were likely.
On April 19, 2017, I wrote WDA’s Director, Doug Miyamoto, saying, “I am pleased to alert you that it won’t be necessary for you to invest in the testing equipment … Neighboring Colorado, too, has testing requirements.”
I explained that THC testing in Colorado is done “by a certified laboratory that charges a per-acre fee to the grower. Hence, the testing costs are borne by growers, not the Department of Agriculture. I urge [WDA] to touch base with Colorado’s Department of Agriculture to learn the particulars.”
A few days later I received a letter from Mr. Uhden of WDA stating that the law “will require the department to sample and test cultivars.” Mr. Uhden attached copies of the pertinent legislation.
In response I emailed the director, pointing out that the referenced legislation authorizes WDA to “contract with laboratories to test industrial hemp and industrial hemp seed.”
Meanwhile I heard from various sources, including a legislator who was instrumental in the hemp bill, that the WDA encourages farmers (or the public) to raise money for its machinery.
Once again I emailed the WDA director. I mentioned that I’d be speaking at the hemp festival in Alcova, expressed my regret that the agency was not sending anyone, and that it’s a mistake to snub farmers who are trying to help get things going.I said I would forward a press release to local papers that includes the statement, “In my talk I’ll urge the WDA to enter into conversation with stakeholders, and to implement licensing with due diligence… . It appears that the WDA is urging farmers to raise money so it may retrofit certain testing machinery, saying that, if the funds don’t materialize, the agency will delay the licensing even more. Already it has succeeded in pushing back the law’s effective date to July 2018.”
This time I did receive a response from Mr. Miyamoto, whom I know personally from my hemp-lobbying efforts. He emailed that “we have not and will not ask producers to raise money for equipment or the implementation of this program.”
He noted that the legislation is not in effect as law “until July of this year.” Even so, he said, “we are working closely with the DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration], Wyoming Attorney General’s office, and UW to draft rules and regulations on a program that complies with federal laws. Once those rules are complete, there will be an open comment period for stakeholders across the state to comment on the draft rules and regulations before a final rule is completed.”
Mr. Miyamoto’s DEA reference goes to the heart of state problems. Ever since the Nixon Administration begat our War on Drugs, hemp has suffered misclassification as a Schedule ! drug, simply because it is in the marijuana family. Yet hemp is high in cannabidiol (CBD), which promotes wellness, and low in the psycho-active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that gets marijuana users their high. When Congress took action at last, it was tepid, half-hearted action. Instead of removing the hemp misclassification, its Agriculture Act of 2014, which President Obama signed into law, decrees that any state may determine its own hemp agriculture. Since then thirty-one states have defined industrial hemp as distinct from marijuana and removed barriers to its production. Nevertheless, inasmuch as the DEA continues to insist that hemp remain classified as a Schedule I drug, states labor under a cloud.
Federal waffling has resulted in state regulations that are cumbersome and expensive. For example, two years ago Wyoming legislators legalized prescriptions of CBD oil for seizure-prone individuals. The law excludes many patients with conditions other than seizures who would benefit from CBD treatment. To add insult to injury, the application process is convoluted and expensive. Meanwhile, Colorado farmers and entrepreneurs have been producing hemp crops and CBD oil for several years—but, no thanks to federal regulations, transporting them across state lines remains illegal.
Another hemp fest will be held next year, organizers say, probably in Casper. They will again invite the WDA. “We are anxious to work with the agency to get hemp farming going in Wyoming,” says Marie Jaramillo Peterson. I’ll second that.
On June 17, 2017, Wyoming’s first-ever hemp festival was held in Alcova.
