The US Senate passed legislation Thursday 6/28/18 that would legalize hemp as an agricultural commodity.
The agriculture and food policy legislation known as the Farm Bill passed by a vote of 86 – 11 and contains provisions to legalize the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp.
“I have heard from many Kentucky farmers who agree it’s time to remove the federal hurdles and give our state the opportunity to seize its full potential and once again become the national leader for hemp production. That is why I strongly advocated for this measure to be included in the Farm Bill,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement after the bill passed.
He also added that “for far too long, the federal government has prevented most farmers from growing hemp.”
McConnell, as well as Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), introduced their hemp legislation as a stand-alone bill in April, before getting it included in the Senate’s farm bill.
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry approved the bill by a vote of 20-1 two weeks ago.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), one of Congress’s most ardent opponents of marijuana law reform, threatened to pursue changes to the bill’s hemp provisions. Grassley wanted to do away with the legalization of several by-products of the cannabis plant, like cannabidiol (CBD), which is used by some people for medical purposes. Grassley never ended up filing a floor amendment.
The bill would decriminalize hemp and remove it from the federal list of controlled substances. This would allow it to be marketed as an agricultural commodity. Legalizing hemp has wide bipartisan support.
It would also allow states to regulate hemp, as well as allow hemp researchers to apply for grants from the Agriculture Department and make hemp farmers eligible for crop insurance..
“Legalizing hemp nationwide ends decades of bad policymaking and opens up untold economic opportunity for farmers in Oregon and across the country,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said upon passage of the Farm Bill.
“For the first time in 80 years, this bill legalizes hemp. We forget, but hemp was widely grown in the United States throughout the mid-1800s,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) said. “Americans used hemp in fabrics, wine, and paper. Our government treated industrial hemp like any other farm commodity until the early 20th century, when a 1937 law defined it as a narcotic drug, dramatically limiting its growth. This became even worse in 1970 when hemp became a schedule I controlled substance. In Colorado, as is true across the country, I have talked to a lot of colleagues about this, we see hemp as a great opportunity to diversify our farms and manufacture high-margin products for the American people.”
The Senate’s farm bill still needs to be merged with a competing version from the House before it can be sent to the White House for President Trump’s signature.
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