California: Governor Signs Industrial Hemp Farming Act

Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown last week signed legislation, Senate Bill 566: the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act, into law.

The measure reclassifies varieties of cannabis containing minute (less than one percent) quantities of THC, the plant’s primary psychoactive compound, as a fiber crop and enacts provisions related to the regulation of the plant’s commercial production.

However, the measure stipulates that hemp cultivation shall not take place in California until such activity is also “authorized under federal law.”

“With the signing of this bill, California is poised to grow industrial hemp when the federal government gives states the green light,” stated the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Mark Leno, in a prepared statement.

Federal law makes no legal distinction between industrial hemp and cannabis despite the fact that “hemp is genetically different [from marijuana] and distinguished by its use and chemical makeup.” Federal legislation, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana is currently pending in the US Senate and in the US House of Representatives.

The United States remains the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial hemp as an economic crop, states the Congressional Resource Service. According to a 2013 CRS report, “[T]he US market for hemp-based products has a highly dedicated and growing demand base, as indicated by recent US market and import data for hemp products and ingredients, as well as market trends for some natural foods and body care products. Given the existence of these small-scale, but profitable, niche markets for a wide array of industrial and consumer products, commercial hemp industry in the United States could provide opportunities as an economically viable alternative crop for some US growers.”

Earlier this year, lawmakers in Colorado and Vermont enacted laws permitting the statewide production of industrial hemp. Unlike California’s new law, neither Colorado nor Vermont require state-licensed farmers to also seek federal authorization before they can legally engage in hemp cultivation.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org.

Article republished from NORML