Hemp production got an unlikely vote of support for this week: conservative Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R, KY).
McConnell this week, while in his home state of Kentucky, broached the subject of legalization for cannabis’s more staid cousin. Advocating for its cultivation and production due to its plethora of utilities and uses, McConnell told the gathered press, “It’s now time to take the final step and make this a legal crop.”
Hemp, a relative of the “marijuana” plant, has drastically lower levels of THC and cannabinoid oils in its genetic makeup when compared with other cannabis plants. As a cultivation crop, hemp, prior to the “Reefer Madness” hysteria of the early 20th century, had a rich history in America’s agrarian past. Farmers across the country cultivated the plant to be used for products as disparate as clothing, rope, paper, animal bedding, weed control (Ed. note: no pun intended) among a myriad of other uses.
In addition to its historical applications, hemp has found a new role in modern times as an ingredient in the building material “hempcrete” as well as in bio-plastics and insulation products. Additionally, more and more athletes are turning to hemp-derived protein powders as a vegan-friendly ingredient for recovery shakes post-workout. These old and new applications for the crop, in addition to decreasing acreage of tobacco crops in places such as North Carolina and McConnell’s Kentucky, spells opportunity for the hemp industry and farmers alike.
But those aren’t the only reasons that the time is ripe for hemp. State regulators, possibly recognizing that they have available acreage due to declining tobacco cultivation, have loosened codes and laws against growing hemp. The good people at MJ Biz Daily spelled out exactly what the growth means in an article this week.
McConnell’s endorsement of the would-be cash crop comes at an awkward time for Jeff Sessions’s continuing crusade to roll back the Cole Memo. Not only did President Trump afford protections to the medical usage of cannabis last week with his passage of the omnibus budget, but now with McConnell highlighting why hemp should be legalized on a federal level, Sessions is finding himself painted into a corner.