Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear did not veto a bill to legalize cultivation of industrial hemp in the Bluegrass State, though it did become law without his signature.
Kentucky now joins North Dakota, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, California, Montana, West Virginia and Vermont as the nine States to have passed a law allowing for farmers to cultivate industrial hemp. Despite the legality in these nine States, farmers have not yet begun to grow it because of fear that the DEA will seize the crops.
NORML Communications Director Erik Altieri writes, “Hemp cultivation is still prohibited by the federal government, so until the feds alter their current policy, it is unlikely that Kentucky farmers will begin to grow this crop. Of the eight states who previously approved industrial hemp legislation, only Hawaii has received a federal waiver allowing them to grow an acre of hemp for research purposes.”
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer stated that “by passing this bill, the General Assembly has signaled that Kentucky is serious about restoring industrial hemp production to the commonwealth and doing it in the right way. That will give Kentucky’s congressional delegation more leverage when they seek a federal waiver allowing Kentucky farmers to grow hemp.”
Federal legislation, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, is currently pending in both houses of the Congress to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana.
Legislation to “prohibit the designation of industrial hemp as a controlled substance” has passed the New Hampshire House, and has an April 11 hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
