Hemp Is Officially Legalized As President Trump Signs The New Farm Bill
By
Joe Martino
from Collective Evolution
Joe Martino
from Collective Evolution 
In Brief
advertisement - learn more
This new policy, voted on every 5 years
or so, was highly anticipated after Congressional approval last week.
The bid for hemp’s recent legalization began when Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell pushed for hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill. The goal was
to reinvigorate the plant’s farming opportunities from state pilot
programs to a nationwide scale by removing hemp from the Controlled
Substances Act and treating it like an agricultural product. After all,
why would it be a controlled substance if it has no psychoactive
properties?
When Trump signed the bill he did not
make specific mention about hemp, but he called it his “great honor to
sign the 2018 Farm Bill, a very special and important piece of
legislation.” He added, “It opens new markets for agriculture all over
the world.”
Although this new bill is being
categorized as outright legalization for hemp, it’s important to note
that strict regulations still apply. Although hemp will no longer be in
the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice, prospective growers will
have to submit cultivation plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), either through the state government or the USDA itself. Similar
to how hemp currently operates in Canada.
For proper distinction, Cannabis plants must contain less than 0.3 percent THC in order to be classified as hemp.
Another positive in this development is
that the bill puts hemp under the Federal Crop Insurance Act, meaning
that in the event a cultivator experiences crop loss, they will be
entitled to insurance coverage in the same way that farmers for other
legal agriculture products are. This illustrates how serious this crop
is now being taken, which reminds me of when hemp was legal in the past
and farmers were actually mandated to grow it as it was such a useful
and healthy crop.
advertisement - learn more
CBD
So what about CBD when it comes to the farm bill? Well, it’s not legalized.
“It is true that section 12619 of the Farm Bill removes hemp-derived products from its Schedule I status under the Controlled Substances Act, but the legislation does not legalize CBD generally. As I have noted elsewhere on this blog CBD generally remains a Schedule I substance under federal law… The Farm Bill ensures that any cannabinoid—a set of chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant—that is derived from hemp will be legal, if and only if that hemp is produced in a manner consistent with the Farm Bill, associated federal regulations, association state regulations, and by a licensed grower. All other cannabinoids, produced in any other setting, remain a Schedule I substance under federal law and are thus illegal. (The one exception is pharmaceutical-grade CBD products that have been approved by FDA, which currently includes one drug: GW Pharmaceutical’s Epidiolex.)” – John Hudak of the Brookings Institute
Regardless of the current CBD restriction, hemp getting the nod for growth again is still a BIG plus.
“The significance of this law change should not be underemphasized,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a press release. “This law marks the first change in the federal classification of the cannabis plant since it was initially classified as a schedule I controlled substance by Congress in 1970, and paves the way for the first federally-sanctioned commercial hemp grows since World War II.”
The Takeaway
Even though things may be happening a
bit slower than we might like at times, things are changing and they are
moving in a more open and free direction. Lots of work is still to be
done but we can take victories like this and build upon them within
ourselves.
Related
Help Support Collective Evolution
In order to stay truly independent, we need your help. We are not going to put up paywalls on this website, as we want to get our info out far and wide. For as little as $3 a month, you can help keep CE alive!
SUPPORT CE HERE!
No comments:
Post a Comment