The
House Agriculture and Forest Products Committee unanimously voted to create a
state-sanctioned process to grow hemp. S
157 has been altered due to issues with past statues from Vermont on Hemp
farming.
The
registration process that the State of Vermont would impose under the House
bill would be much more lax than the federal law. It would require the grower
to submit to the Secretary of Agriculture his or her name and address, a
statement that the cannabis variety does not exceed the state potency
threshold, and the location and acreage of the hemp parcels. The bill would
give the Agriculture Secretary the power to leverage an annual $25 registration
fee for administration purposes.
The
Vermont registration literature would also come with the following caveat:
“Federal prosecution for growing hemp in violation of federal law may include
criminal penalties, forfeiture of property, and loss of access to federal
agricultural benefits, including agricultural loans, conservation programs, and
insurance programs.”
Senator
Pat Leahy has spoken with officials from the DEA about procedures for Hemp
farming. Deputy chief with the DEA James
Akers responded by telling the Senator that Cannabis is still a schedule 1
controlled substance and that there are many rules to farming hemp in America.
The
DEA has the ability to certify a farmer for hemp, but has yet to do so since
being given this power by President Richard Nixon.
The federal government continues to ban cultivation of industrial hemp because of the infinitesimal quantities of THC it contains. The logic is flawed and is equivalent to banning poppy seeds because they contain tiny amounts of the opiate found in opium and heroin. Smoking industrial hemp will produce a headache—not a high. In our business we use fabric imported from China that contains hemp. And that's just one of hundreds of uses for hemp and its seeds. Permitting hemp cultivation in the U.S. would offer a viable crop to our farmers that requires no pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. We've posted an article about this issue at http://www.sympaticoclothing.com/hemp-legality.html
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