Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

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."


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:15PM (1 child)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Wednesday December 05 2018, @07:15PM (#770238)

    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."
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Interesting=1, Informative=2, Total=3
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday December 06 2018, @02:06AM

    by Immerman (3985) on Thursday December 06 2018, @02:06AM (#770423)

    Note they're talking CBD, *not* THC. CBD is not appreciably psychoactive, and according to the first link google offered on hemp CBD content:

    Hemp is naturally high in CBD and low in THC; the reverse is true of cannabis.

    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.