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U.S. House and Senate legislators have reached an agreement on the Farm Bill, which includes a provision that would legalize hemp cultivation nationwide, with caveats (e.g. nobody with a drug-related conviction can participate):
Not only have cannabis derivatives like hemp been effectively banned in the US since the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, other legislation has categorized marijuana products as dangerous Schedule I substances like LSD and ecstasy. Then in 2014, Congress passed legislation that approved small pilot programs for growing hemp, though to do so, farmers still needed approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration. (This 2014 provision was part of the Farm Bill, a massive piece of legislation that sets policy around food and agriculture. The Farm Bill needs to be renewed every few years, so the new decision to legalize hemp is part of the proposed 2018 Farm Bill.)
Despite this, there was some debate over whether derivatives of the hemp plant, like CBD, were really excluded from the Controlled Substances Act, according to Shawn Hauser, a senior associate at cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg, hence the legal gray area. "The 2018 bill actually goes in and amends the Controlled Substances Act to make very clear that CBD derived from hemp would not be considered a controlled substance," she says.
This is "a pretty important step forward in terms of federal government's recognition of what CBD is and what its lack of potential harm or risk is," says John Hudak, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and author of Marijuana: A Short History. There are likely to be more CBD products now, but that still doesn't mean that everyone can just grow hemp in their backyard. Farmers will no longer need DEA approval, but there will still be significant federal and state restrictions on hemp products and growers will need to be licensed and fulfill other requirements developed by the US Department of Agriculture. "It's not going to be this free-for-all that some people imagine," Hudak says.
[...] The House and the Senate both need to officially vote on the new legislation, which is expected before the end of the year. As Hauser says: "We're still in infancy at the precipice of a new business which other industrialized countries have had for decades."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 05 2018, @02:27PM (11 children)
So a farmer gets busted once for pot, and now cannot grow it.
Of course, this measure is just the camel's nose under the tent.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 05 2018, @02:51PM (6 children)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 05 2018, @05:27PM (5 children)
That might have been true back in the daze when I was but a mere typo and had not yet matured into a full blown gramatical disaster.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 05 2018, @06:23PM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 05 2018, @06:44PM (3 children)
I'm basically just agreeing with your sarcasm.
It is no longer necessary to be tough on hemp. It once may have seemed like it was important. But no longer does it seem like it, except to Jeff Sessions.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 05 2018, @06:46PM (2 children)
Good to hear that Evil Keebler Elf Sessions is out of the White House and out of a Senate seat. Hopefully he retreats from public life.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday December 05 2018, @09:35PM
The little guy was VERY MIXED UP. And confused. He had a big job -- couldn't do it! I told everybody I didn’t have an Attorney General. It was very sad. But I moved very strongly on that one. I told him, resign. Or you'll be in a World of Hurt.........He got the message. Welcome my TERRIFIC new Attorney General @MattWhitaker46 [twitter.com]!!
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday December 05 2018, @10:32PM
I've heard he's back in the tree making fudge stripes....
(that asshole was a major problem for the US. so glad he's out of the picture, now)
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday December 05 2018, @02:52PM (3 children)
The experienced people get locked out by the system.
I think the silver lining here is that the increasing normalization of cannabis across the country means that you are much more likely to get away with growing or transporting it. If in Michigan, you can "legally" hand some cannabis to a friend (as long as that friend does not give you money) or transport a couple ounces of it, a street dealer is likelier to avoid capture or punishment for still-illegal transactions.
Hemp is a bit different. As an industrial product, you would have to grow it on a pretty large scale that would be noticeable, and sell it to businesses who would probably rather get it from a legal supplier.
This "CBD derived from hemp would not be considered a controlled substance" is a bit interesting. I want more info about it (and passage of the bill) before I reach a conclusion.
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(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday December 05 2018, @05:18PM (2 children)
My first take on the "CBD derived from hemp..." is that it's intended to carve a safe space for the production and sale of pharmaceutical products as a product of hemp farming and processing, rather than just fiber. CBD is one of the particularly promising molecules. It also lays the groundwork for judicial interpretation as to whether other pharmaceutical derivatives should be similarly unhindered, without explicitly spelling out the boundaries.
But yeah, I would like a lot more information - assuming the bill passes and becomes relevant.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:15PM (1 child)
Industrial Hemp doesn't have much in the way of Cannabinoids to begin with, the variety grown for fiber is so low that your more likely to get a head ache and passout from the carbon monoxide in the smoke long before you get even a buzz from the THC.
For anyone interested in Hemp, it's history and how it went from a "billion billion crop"* in 1936 to "Reefer Madness" and "Just say NO" I recommend reading The Emperor Wears No Cloths [jackherer.com], its available on line at the link provided or get a print copy form Amazon. Well worth the read IMHO.
*Popular Science published an article in 1936, so that is 1 billion in 1936 dollars, first time any agriculture crop had ever been referenced that way.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday December 06 2018, @02:06AM
Note they're talking CBD, *not* THC. CBD is not appreciably psychoactive, and according to the first link google offered on hemp CBD content:
There are a whole lot of different cannabinoid compounds, many of which show a lot of medicinal promise, and comparatively few of which are especially psychoactive.