KY Senate OKs Legal Hemp

The weirdest part about this is that the repug-led state Senate, where progressive legislation goes to die, originated and passed this bill, and the dem-led House, where progressive legislation is born only to be strangled in the senate crib, is set to squash it.

It's a testament to ignorance about hemp, stupidity about pot, and the destructiveness of the drug war clusterfuck.

Gregory Hall at the Courier:

An effort to allow Kentucky farmers to grow hemp for a variety of products passed the state Senate Thursday — and took a small step toward federal acceptance as well.

But it still faces steep odds, including skepticism from the governor and Kentucky State Police and the distinct possibility of being gutted in the state House.


Backers of Senate Bill 50 say Thursday’s 31-6 vote could make Kentucky among the first in the nation to legalize the crop, potentially creating thousands of hemp-related jobs growing and processing the plant’s fiber and seeds.


But Gov. Steve Beshear said he has doubts about legalizing the far weaker relative of marijuana as an industrial crop, citing state police concerns about complicating marijuana enforcement efforts. Even if the state legalizes hemp, the federal government would have to distinguish it from marijuana before cultivation would be allowed.


Washington took a step in that direction Thursday, when U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul joined Oregon’s senators in sponsoring a bill that would remove hemp from the federal controlled substance list and define it as a non-drug — as long as it contains less than 0.3 percent THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Call or email your representatives and tell them to wake up and smell the economic boom.