(Willamette Week) Advocates say the simple act of letting Oregon farmers grow hemp could eventually bring millions of dollars into the state. Canadian farmers made more than $8 million on hemp last year, according to the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance. Advocates in Oregon say once a homegrown U.S. hemp industry gets started, the potential profits here are far greater.But the DEA refuses, making this the only industrialized nation in the world where farmers can’t grow hemp.
“It’s frustrating because we have the capability to do it,” Rutherford says. “We could start growing it tomorrow, and we could harvest it in six months, and we would have instant jobs.”
The pressure to legalize hemp production is mounting, however, and Portland is at the center of the battle.
Portland is home to the largest hemp foods manufacturer in the country.
Portland venture capitalists have invested more than anyone else in the nation in companies that use hemp, pioneering new technologies for textiles.
Lastly, Portland is home to one of the most prominent activists pushing for change on a national level, and is soon to be home to a nonprofit helping farmers in developing countries to grow the stuff.
Click the link and read the whole article – it’s a great look at the Living Harvest company that is based here in Portland and leading the introduction of hemp products to the grocery store. It also goes into detail about the agricultural jobs and benefits of hemp and quickly dismisses the common arguments against allowing hemp production.
However, one thing is never addressed in all these tributes to industrial hemp. Most hemp advocates go to great lengths to dissociate hemp from psychoactive and medicinal cannabis, which is understandable since that is perceived to be the impediment to legalizing hemp. What’s not addressed is that prohibition unreasonably affects the production of industrial hemp even if hemp is legalized.
Even with legal hemp, farmers will have to grow strains of hemp that test below 0.3% THC. This is part of a “test safe pledge” that hemp industries have agreed to as a guarantee someone ingesting their product wouldn’t test positive on a urine screen for psychoactive and medicinal cannabis. But this leads to a weaker, less productive hemp plant, which would have natural THC ranges of 1% to 3%. The THC acts as a sunscreen for the plant, protecting it from UV rays, leading to stronger plants with greater yield.
There will also be all manner of licensing, permits, fees, and scrutiny that an alfalfa farmer wouldn’t be subject to as the government works to guarantee that farmers aren’t using hemp farming as a ruse for psychoactive cannabis farming.
It’s all one plant, no matter how much hemp advocates want you to believe it isn’t. Just legalize cannabis, and all the medical marijuana and industrial hemp uses are legal, period.
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I don’t think so. How does someone go about getting on?
If you are interested you can pre enroll now for free to make sure you don’t loose a spot at the top of the company. My enrollment form is at http://hempnetworkopportunity.com. Hit me up if you have any questions: questionyourreality@yahoo.com
The Hemp Network and Bruce has been on the NORML show ?
Maybe I’ll join you in that as well. We expats in Cambodia need Prop 19 to pass–BIG TIME…that’s why these no on 19 folks can’t see the global perspective. A medical dispensary will be possible here,if California allows all adults over 21. Industrial hemp can be talked about with less fear your US AID will be cut/threatened.
God bless Richard Lee and he deserves all the big bucks some day…Such courage !
I made it a mission to learn something new about Hemp everyday. Today I came across Hemp in Philanthropy and I was truly shocked. Hemp seed is the most complete whole food known to exist to man today. Yep, even more powerful than fish oil. Yet we still have starvation around the world and an overfishing problem around the globe. The government has our best interest at heart, right? I am doing my part by Promoting Hemp through The Hemp Network. Believe it or not, Bruce Perlowin “The King Of Pot” is heading up the company as CEO. I went from watching documentaries about this guy to working along side him. The internet age is so cool. Hemp And Marijuana will be legalized. With companies growing as fast as The Hemp Network it is just a matter of time before people start rebelling, stating with the farmers.
J.w. surely doesn’t know what he’s talking about but willamette week knows.
now all we need is a marajuana mafia & some under-cover cannabis cops
You just HAVE to know that the REAL threat to the established powers is hemp. To say that out loud , however,would reveal the real motivation for the war on us and they can’t have that so they need a boogeyman.
If you make hemp legal those damn potheads will grow pot and pot is evil so don’t legalize hemp.
And don’t forget that just as the feds still raid dispensaries that are operating completely legally under state law, you know that cops will still raid hemp farms claiming that they were growing marijuana as well.
No proof? I’m sure the cops have plenty of plants that they could…. well….. plant.