05/28/2013
California Industrial H**p Farming Act Approved by Senate Committee
SACRAMENTO, CA — A bill that would allow California farmers to grow industrial h**p received a favorable report from a Senate committee on Thursday, who recommended the bill’s passage by a vote of 7-0.
The California Industrial H**p Farming Act, Senate Bill 566, was given the green light by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and has previously been approved by the Committee on Public Safety by a 5-0 vote. The bill will now be scheduled for a third reading by the full California Senate.
If passed, the bill sponsored by state Senator Mark Leno and Assemblyman Allan R. Mansoor would revise the state definition of “ma*****na” to exclude industrial h**p, and would establish a licensing procedure for farmers wishing to cultivate industrial h**p.
The bill would take effect upon the federal government lifting the current ban on h**p cultivation in the United States.
The United States Senate is currently considering legislation that would exclude industrial h**p from the Controlled Substances Act’s definition of ma*****na, in addition to a seperate bill, “Industrial H**p Farming Act of 2013,” which remains pending as stand-alone legislation in both the House and Senate but has yet to receive a legislative hearing.
H**p is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa that contains only trace (less than one percent) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis.
H**p products can legally be sold in the United States, but the h**p must be imported from other countries. Sales of h**p products in the United States have grown steadily since 1990 to achieve over $500 million in annual sales in 2012.
California’s h**p manufacturers currently import “tens of thousands” of acre’s worth of h**p seed, oil and fiber products that could potentially be produced by California farmers at a more competitive price than the international imports, according to Sen. Leno, and locally grown h**p would create jobs for California’s work force.
Eight states – Colorado, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia – have enacted statutory changes defining industrial h**p as distinct agricultural product and allowing for its regulated commercial production.
Numerous states are considering legislation this year to allow the cultivation of industrial h**p.
H**p use archaeologically dates back to the Neolithic Agein China, with h**p fiber imprints found on Yangshao culture pottery dating from the 5th century BC. Historians estimate that h**p was first cultivated by humans about 12,000 years ago.
Farmers worldwide grow h**p commercially for fiber, seed, and oil for use in a variety of industrial and consumer products, including food and clothing. The United States is the only developed nation that fails to cultivate industrial h**p as an economic crop, according to the Congressional Resource Service.
Over thirty countries produce industrial h**p, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine.
The world’s leader in h**p production is China.
