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posted by martyb on Wednesday December 05 2018, @01:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the rope-a-dope dept.

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."


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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 05 2018, @06:44PM (3 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 05 2018, @06:44PM (#770218) Journal

    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)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday December 05 2018, @06:46PM (#770219) Journal

    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

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday December 05 2018, @09:35PM (#770286) Homepage Journal

      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

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Wednesday December 05 2018, @10:32PM (#770312)

      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)

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