Industrial Hemp OK'd for Kentucky, No Thanks to Beshear
The Cowardly Waste of Oxygen is back, with a try-to-please-everyone abdication of responsibility that's only going to get him blamed by both sides.
Ben Finney at AP:
Kentucky law will now allow industrial hemp farming if the federal government ever lifts restrictions on the plant.Joseph Gerth at the Courier:
Gov. Steve Beshear on Friday said he will let the bill become law without his signature. The governor said he won't sign the legislation out of concerns, shared by some in law enforcement, that marijuana growers could camouflage their illegal growth with hemp plants. Beshear said state officials should have time to work out their concerns if the federal Drug Enforcement Agency ever lifts its ban or allows commonwealth farmers to register as legal cultivators of hemp.
The bill will officially become law at the end of the day (Friday) but will have no real effect unless the federal government declassifies hemp as an illegal drug or grants Kentucky a waiver that would allow people to start growing the plant, which is native to Kentucky.
“We’re going to be figuring out a strategy about going to Washington and trying to get a waiver or trying to get them to lift the ban,” said state Rep. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, the primary sponsor of the bill.
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, a key proponent of the legislation, said he plans to talk next week with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth about how to obtain federal permission to grow the crop. “I hope farmers can start putting seeds in the ground next spring.”
Hemp fiber, oil and seed have a variety of uses, including clothing and fuel. Hornback said the market for hemp products in the United States is more than $400 million annually, which he expects to increase if cultivation resumes in the country.
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