More from the Huffington Post

Hemp sprouts.

More from the Huffington Post by Ryan Grim and Lucia Graves: This venue started to take up this issue rather late and reluctantly, it is one that we have contacted many times in the past and have been totally ignored, so we do welcome the fact that they are finally working on it, but truth to tell, they only did so when it started to go viral and they had no other choice. They did little more than the mainstream press - in fact less, as the LA Times has had an excellent feature on hemp a few years back and this year in an editorial wholeheartedly endorsed it. But for what (little) it's worth, here is the HP contribution, better late than never...for those of you really willing to work on this, there is a petition to the White House to sign at:
www.minawear.com/about-us/

WASHINGTON -- A chance encounter at last weekend's Kentucky Derby may have given the hemp industry the break it's been looking for since the crop was banned in 1970, when the federal government classified it as a controlled substance related to marijuana.

Kentucky's Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer, a Republican, told The Huffington Post that he was at a private pre-derby party on Saturday when he found himself chatting with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his chief of staff Mike Sommers. Comer talked shop.

The topic at hand was the fate of the hemp industry in Kentucky, which could become the first state in the nation to successfully lobby for federal approval. Boehner and Sommers were interested enough to invite Comer and the chief supporters of the state's legalization bill to a meeting in Washington.

On Tuesday night, Boehner sat down with Comer and the bill's lead backers, Republican state Sen. Paul Hornback and Democrat Jonathan Miller, a former Kentucky state treasurer who currently serves on the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission (and who also moonlights as a HuffPost blogger). Sommers confirmed the meeting took place.

According to Comer, Boehner told the trio he would talk with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) about how a federal bill might be moved forward to remove hemp from the list of controlled substances. On Thursday, Comer and the Kentucky legislators plan to meet with McConnell, who surprised observers back home by endorsing Hornback's hemp bill, a move that quickly brought the state GOP in line.

The most likely path to passage for hemp legislation runs through the farm bill, as an amendment. That bill goes up for debate in the Senate Agriculture Committee next week -- fortuitous timing for hemp.

"I was impressed with his knowledge of this issue," Comer said of Boehner. "At the end he said, 'This is funny, because this issue's been around a long time. My daughter was talking about this 15 years ago.' So this is something he knows a lot about. And the difference today, as opposed to 10 years ago, is the only people who were pushing this issue 10 years ago were the extreme right or left, or people who wanted to legalize marijuana." Comer spoke with HuffPost and a Roll Call reporter in the office of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), their home base while they're in Washington, working with the group Vote Hemp, which advocates on behalf of the industry.

Kentucky's hemp bill, Senate Bill 50, became law in April and allows Bluegrass State farmers to grow industrial hemp for the first time in decades. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and local police have expressed concerns that allowing farmers to cultivate hemp would enable them to disguise the cultivation of illegal marijuana, which looks very similar to hemp but contains much higher levels of THC, the psychoactive agent in cannabis. Experts dismissed that argument, noting that cross-pollination between hemp plants and marijuana plants would significantly reduce the potency of the marijuana and devalue the crop. Beshear and Kentucky police remained skeptical, though the governor did not ultimately veto the legislation, letting it become law without his signature.

The chief objection, Miller said, came from a small element of law enforcement who feared "that this is a slippery slope, that they would lose money with marijuana eradication." The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, however, backed the bill.

Now Kentucky awaits federal action to approve the plant's cultivation. The Drug Enforcement Administration currently classifies hemp as a Schedule I substance with "a high potential for abuse," alongside heroin and LSD, despite the fact that industrial hemp has zero potential for abuse.

Comer said that the DEA has so far declined to meet with him or the Kentucky lawmakers, so they are hoping instead to meet with the Department of Justice, which oversees the DEA. He said that meetings with the Departments of Energy and Agriculture went well.

Paul and McConnell are co-sponsoring federal legislation that would remove the plant from the DEA's list of illegal drugs. A similar effort is also underway in the House, boosted by members of Kentucky's congressional delegation, with the exception of Rep. Harold Rogers (R). Should those efforts fail, the senators have vowed to seek a waiver from the DEA granting Kentucky special dispensation to grow hemp.

Other states that have also passed local laws allowing hemp licensure include Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia and Colorado. While some have sought federal validation of state laws from the DEA, those efforts have been unsuccessful to date.

Huffington Post and the liberals embrace hemp

Hemp is starting to go viral: Doonesbury characters, top GOP leaders, green gurus, yoga practicioners, you name it - this is the year for hemp. The left almost got left out - while the GOP took the lead - and is now trying to jump back in; Jonathan Miller has this to say on the Huffington Post, Ms. Huffington is just now getting on the bandwagon - another rich lefty from the wine and cheese circuit - whose $ ironically comes from oil - after divorcing her rich husband - so I might have some ironic comments after so many years of campaigning so hard and seeing the lefties wait and wait till they can make some $ off of it and try to take credit for what they did not support till others came along and did it. But for what it's worth, here is their rant as another log on the fire, and I welcome it, even if with sceptisism - note that Ms Huffington is NOT wearing any hemp - most of these lefties talk a lot and do nothing. Not that I am in the right - consider me a plain talking take-no-nonsense centrist:



This week, I have the honor and pleasure of joining Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer as we meet in Washington, D.C. with an impressive swath of Obama Administration officials — from the White House to the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy to the Environmental Protection Agency — to seek their help in securing the federal legalization of industrial hemp.
Think the pairing of this proud progressive and the conservative Comer to be somewhat unusual? Let me further blow your political assumptions: We will be joined in our advocacy by the unlikely alliance of GOP Establishment favorite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Tea Party poster child Senator Rand Paul, and liberal Democratic stalwart Congressman John Yarmuth.
This rare burst of No Labels-style Washington bi-partisanship is merely a reflection of the broad, deep and diverse support for hemp’s legalization among Kentuckians of all political persuasions. This March, the Kentucky General Assembly overwhelmingly passed Senate Bill 50 — sponsored by GOP Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Paul Hornback, and strongly championed by Democratic House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins — that establishes an administrative and law enforcement structure for hemp growers should the crop be legalized at the federal level, and would empower Kentucky to jump to the front of the line and establish itself as the national leader on the crop once federal approval was granted.
How have liberals, conservatives and everyone in between found such common ground? It’s because the case for hemp legalization is so compelling:

• While support for legalizing hemp’s distant cousin, marijuana, remains controversial (I support legal pot; Comer does not), hemp is not marijuana. The two plants are quite distinct in the way that they appear physically and are cultivated agriculturally. Moreover, smoking hemp can’t get you high; it just might make you feel a little stupid that you tried. Industrial hemp has less than one percent THC, while marijuana ranges from 5 to 20 percent THC content.
• Legalized industrial hemp production could emerge as a prolific cash crop that could bring hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue to Kentucky, and many billions of dollars to the United States. There are more than 25,000 uses for the crop, including rope, clothing, automotive paneling and door installation — even makeup.
• Most exciting to me — as a clean energy advocate — is hemp’s application as a clean-burning alternative fuel. Hemp burns with no carbon emissions and produces twice as much ethanol per acre as corn. While bio-fuels critics have raised alarms at the diversion of food products into fuel production — causing spikes in food prices — hemp has no such negative economic side effects. As the U.S. struggles with the dual enormous challenges of climate change and dependence on foreign oil, industrial hemp could become a powerful weapon in America’s energy independence arsenal.

Only one thing stands in the way of this exciting economic and environmental progress: The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) continues to classify hemp as an illegal, controlled substance, regardless of its THC potency.
Accordingly, Comer and I — and our bipartisan federal delegation — will be lobbying Obama Administration officials this week to provide Kentucky a waiver from the federal regulations; or better yet, to encourage the DEA to reclassify industrial hemp as legal, regulated agricultural crop.
But while our lobbying efforts will hopefully produce some progress, the key power is in your hands. While a majority of Americans now support legalized marijuana — and presumably a much larger majority supports legal hemp — only when you share your support with your elected officials will they feel the political pressure to take action.
Here are three very simple things that you can do — right now, at your computer — to register your support for legalized industrial hemp and pressure Washington to fulfill the people’s will:

1. Contact your Senators to urge them to co-sponsor and support S. 359, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013. introduced by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rand Paul (R-KY) that would exclude hemp from the definition of marijuana and allow states to legalize and regulate the product.
2. Contact your Congressman and urge him or her to co-sponsor the companion bill in the House, H.R. 525, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, introduced by Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY).
3. Sign the following petition to President Obama, urging his Administration to lift the barriers to legalized hemp: www.minawear.com/about-us/

More obstrucion in Kentucky as Democrats add clauses to bill

The Democrats are at it again in Kentucky, sabotaging the opportunity to grow hemp and create jobs, possibly just because the GOP is backing it. That is why we need a Centrist Party in the US - these two parties are sucking the lifeblood out of everyone! And there does seem to be major opposition to this, for some reason, the most read post on this blog is a short one about starting just such a party. Is there that much interest in having a fresh, new party in the US, or are there that many intel agencies trying to prevent it - or both?

At any rate, the people suffer at the hands of both, this time the Democrats, who have not done much for hemp all these years, are to blame - and the overwhelming support for hemp in Kentucky is being disprespected by a handful. Janet Patton in the Herald Leader explains:



FRANKFORT — Supporters of legislation to license Kentucky farmers to grow hemp said the latest proposal by House Democratic leaders contains troubling provisions that could be deal-breakers.
A fourth version of the amendment proposed by House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, and Majority Caucus Chairwoman Sannie Overly, D-Paris, moves much of the oversight for hemp to the Kentucky State Police, who have opposed hemp production.
Earlier this month, Adkins attached such language to Senate Bill 50, and he and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, have been negotiating a potential compromise.
But that could be in jeopardy.
"The fourth draft of the House leadership amendment to SB 50 still hands way too many oversight powers to the KSP," said Tom Murphy, spokesman for Vote Hemp, a lobbying group that has monitored the legislation in Kentucky. "Why would one want to give such powers to KSP given their vehement opposition to hemp farming and their stated misinformation on the subject? ... SB 50 as is looks like the best way to go. It's well drafted and comparable with other states' legislation and laws."
Holly VonLuehrte, chief of staff for Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, said there also are concerns about unfunded mandates made to the University of Kentucky for research projects. The proposed language removes the hemp commission from the state Agriculture Department and attaches it to UK's research center.
Comer, who currently heads the hemp commission, would be become vice chairman.
VonLuehrte said Comer "is willing to step aside as chair, but is unwilling to accept punitive action toward the department or the hemp commission."
In a statement, Comer said: "We are chasing our tails with all these drafts. SB 50 is a simple bill and would pass easily. How much time and effort has been spent toward derailing this simple, very popular bill? And why?"
House Democratic leaders were meeting in caucus and not immediately available for comment, but House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said earlier that with Kentucky State Police involved, he is more inclined to support the bill.
"As long as the state police, the law enforcement community are satisfied, I think that goes a long way to satisfying a lot of the concerns that we have, people like I have," Stumbo said.
Hornback said earlier that he hoped to review the language by 4 p.m.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/03/25/2573767/hemp-negotiations-heading-for.html#storylink=cpy

Cincinnati report on Kentucky hemp vote

The events in Kentucky are getting nationwide attention, earlier this month (posted here) there was a New York Times article, and now on www.cincinnati.com Scott Warman is covering the debacle in the Kentucky House where a democrat, that is with a small 'd', is delaying the vote. Read below:




Boos erupted when a vote didn’t happen Wednesday morning in the House Agriculture Committee to provide regulations for an industrial hemp industry.
Ag Committee Chairman Rep. Tom McKee, D-Cynthiana said a vote on Senate Bill 50 might happen this afternoon.
For two hours, members of the House committee heard testimony both for and against the bill that would set up qualifications for licenses to transport and grow hemp and provide GPS coordinates for each hemp field for easy tracking by law enforcement and other regulations. It would only take affect if the federal ban on hemp is lifted.
Then McKee abruptly put the committee in recess citing more questions from lawmakers and said the meeting will resume at 4:30 p.m.
“We ran out of time,” McKee said. “It was not the plan to run out of time. The plan was to vote.”
A committee substitute proposed in the House would scrap the original bill and instead call for more research. It would set up the “Kentucky Agriculture Experiment Station” that would research the potential economic impact and market viability of industrial hemp in Kentucky. Should the federal government lift its ban on industrial hemp or issue a permit to Kentucky, the proposed amended bill would allow the experiment station, in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and Kentucky State Police, to grow two five acre “demonstration fields” and issue a report to lawmakers by Nov. 29.
McKee called the committee substitute more aggressive because it would ensure the growing of some hemp as well as research into Canada’s hemp growing industry.
“We think the committee substitute is more aggressive than the bill itself because we are looking at doing total and complete research, including site visits to Canada and it would include the possibility of getting some in the ground in 2013 at the Agriculture Experiment Station,” McKee said.
McKee wouldn’t say whether the bill could get passed with or without the committee substitute.
“We would certainly look at it, the goal would be to adopt the committee sub,” McKee said. “If that doesn’t happen, I’m not sure what the next course of action is. We had a pretty good discussion. The house has been pretty much left out of these discussions so that’s why there were a lot of questions.”
Some accused the delay or block in vote as political.
“In my opinion, it is mostly political” said Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville,the bill’s sponsor “There’s some frustration of mine, not only for this bill, but on other bills of mine. As a farmer, when you have an opportunity, you seize it.”
Ag Commissioner Jamie Comer, who has supported the bill, said he doesn’t know why a bill that enjoys the support of both Sen. Rand Paul and U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth as well as a litany of other support from both parties should become so politicized.
“This issue symbolizes what’s wrong with the Kentucky General Assembly,” Comer said. “The majority of the legislators want to do good things. They want to create jobs. They want to create jobs, want to help farmers, but it gets bogged down in political bickering. If the chairman of the committee would just let the bill be voted on, the bill will pass as is.”

Is Tom McKee trying to derail the hemp bill in Kentucky?

All eyes are on Kentucky, where the state overwhelmingly voted to support hemp, after both senators
endorsed it. But then there had to be a hitch, and from the report below, by Janet Patton, we are left to wonder if the democrats are not stooping that low that they would play politics with this and delay it just because it has a lot of GOP support. Let's hope that Tom McKee does not tamper with this and waste any more time.
Below is Patton's report:



The chairman of the state House Agriculture Committee plans to ask for major changes to a hemp bill, including calling for hemp field trials by the University of Kentucky rather than leaving it up to farmers.
Rep. Tom McKee, D-Cynthiana, said Tuesday that he plans to call for a committee substitute Wednesday morning that he said would be "more aggressive than the bill itself."
Advocates for the existing legislation questioned that assertion; neither bill sponsor Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, nor Agriculture Commissioner James Comer had seen the proposed changes before 5 p.m. Tuesday.
"I think it's an attempt to stall the bill," Hornback said of McKee's proposed changes.
Hornback said he met with McKee and was promised a look at the bill before the end of the day but called what he's heard "a travesty" that would kill the opportunity to create jobs in Kentucky.
Animosity over the late substitution erupted Tuesday on the House floor.
House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, criticized McKee on the floor, accusing him of playing "gotcha politics" because Comer is a Republican. Hoover said that Senate Bill 50 received bipartisan support, passing the Senate 31-6, "and we're not even going to give it a fair hearing?"
Hoover called on McKee to have an up-or-down vote on the existing bill.
In response, McKee said the bill was being drafted and wasn't ready. He said he would call Comer as soon as it was available to discuss specifics.
"We feel like the sub moves the issue forward, that the commissioner can embrace it," McKee said. "He'll have a copy."
Earlier in the day, Comer's chief of staff, Holly VonLuehrte, said McKee also had not shared his changes with the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission. McKee sits on the hemp commission, which helped craft the language that the Senate passed earlier this month.
"Why play secrets and games with this? Why spring it on everybody at the last minute? Are we not going to get to see the committee sub until the meeting?" VonLuehrte asked. "It is incredibly disrespectful to not consult the body that's been working on this language for at least a year."
Hornback's Senate Bill 50 would set up a licensing framework for Kentucky farmers to grow hemp if federal restrictions are eased or if the Drug Enforcement Administration allows a waiver for the state to grow it.
McKee said his language probably would direct UK to pursue a DEA permit to begin studying the crop, which cannot be grown legally in the United States without a federal license.
"We'd like to see the UK experiment station get some in the ground this year," McKee said. "We're looking for an aggressive study, including some site visits to Canada. ... We very much support the industrial-hemp effort."
UK College of Agriculture Dean Scott Smith, who also is on the hemp commission, prepared a DEA permit a decade ago but never submitted it because the cost was expected to be prohibitively high and no funding was appropriated.
It is unclear how successful UK's application might be, how long it could take, or how much such an effort and research might cost. McKee said he is looking for a way to pay for it.
Smith issued this statement about McKee's proposal: "There are many unanswered questions about the cultivation of hemp in Kentucky, including suitability of various soil conditions and growth potential on various sites. If current legal and cost restrictions were alleviated, research to address those questions would clearly be within the mandated mission of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station at the UK College of Agriculture. We would welcome the opportunity to develop much-needed, evidence-based information for growers and processors."
McKee said he thought the new language probably would receive the votes to pass the House committee Wednesday, and he is optimistic that it would have support on the House floor. Prospects for the hemp bill have been uncertain in the House, in part because of the objections of the Kentucky State Police, who have said that hemp cultivation might complicate marijuana eradication efforts.
Echoing House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, McKee said licensing language in Hornback's bill is probably unnecessary because if federal laws change to distinguish hemp from marijuana, "there probably would be a federal licensing program."
On Friday, Stumbo's office issued a statement saying, "There is no need for additional state bureaucracy involving permits issued by a state Hemp Czar."
McKee said his new language is not an effort to stall the hemp bill that Comer, a Republican, and Hornback have lobbied for.
"Absolutely not," McKee said. "I think there's some things we can do while we wait for (federal) permits. Whether they come this year or not ... I think they're going to come sometime. I think our bill's going to put us in position to take advantage of whatever comes."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/26/2532515/mckee-to-amend-hemp-bill-to-call.html#storylink=cpy

Cowardice in Kentucky

The battles for hemp in the US are getting bigger and bigger, and with yesterday's editorial in the LA Times (see post below) there was a major victory. However, a minor disappointment occured yesterday in Kentucky, when the Agriculture Committee Chairman decided to tone down the bill that had been so overwhelmingly approved (31-6) on the 11th of this month. No great loss if he does, cowardice in rampant among US politicians so this is hardly a great surprise.

From the Associated Press:

A Kentucky House committee chairman is planning to scale back an industrial hemp bill to allow the University of Kentucky to seek permission to study the crop currently banned by the federal government.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom McKee said Tuesday his amendment would have UK test hemp if it received a federal permit. McKee said he plans to offer the amendment when the Agriculture Committee takes up the hemp bill Wednesday in Frankfort.
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer is opposing efforts to overhaul the measure that has passed the state Senate.
The bill backed by Comer would set up a state system to license hemp growers and regulate its production if the crop is legalized by the federal government. Hemp is classified as a controlled substance related to marijuana.
The legislation is Senate Bill 50.

Bad cops in Kentucky

An article in the Miami Herald tells us sadly who in Kentucky is acting against the interests of US citizens and against the raw material of which the first US flag was made - it is the police. They fail in their duty as public servants when they lie - or as in the case in New York, when they use police data bases to get information on women whom they can kidnap, torture, cook, and eat...but that is another story. Here is the one on law enforcement in Kentucky:

 

By Janet Patton

Lexington herald-Leader

Two law enforcement groups on Monday criticized efforts to revive hemp production in Kentucky as economically unsound.
In a joint news release, the Kentucky Narcotic Officers' Association and Operation UNITE said they opposed Senate Bill 50 and House Bill 33, both of which would license farmers to grow industrial hemp.
"All the rhetoric you're hearing from the small group of proponents seeking to reintroduce hemp cultivation is based on desired outcomes, not reality," said Dan Smoot, vice president of Operation UNITE, an anti-drug organization covering 32 counties in southern and Eastern Kentucky. Its name is an acronym for Unlawful Narcotics Investigations, Treatment and Education.
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer has been lobbying for SB 50, sponsored by Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Paul Hornback. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, will testify.
In a statement, Comer said he was very concerned about the law enforcement groups' stance.
"Senate Bill 50 does not legalize industrial hemp. It sets up a framework if there's movement on the federal level," said Comer's chief of staff, Holly VonLuehrte.
The Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission, chaired by Comer, on Monday authorized a study by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture to assess hemp's economic potential. The study should be ready by early summer.
Comer said the law enforcement officials "stepped way out of their lane" by attacking the economics of hemp.
"When you've got marijuana growers and certain members of law enforcement on the same side, there's a problem," Comer said in a statement.
He and officials from the Kentucky State Police will address the Senate Republican caucus next week in advance of a Feb. 11 hearing in Hornback's committee.
The law enforcement officials said in their news release that more information was needed on how good hemp might be for the state and how bad it might be for drug-enforcement efforts.
"You have some prominent people supporting Senate Bill 50 and House Bill 33, but they are looking through rose-colored glasses if they believe hemp production would be a good alternative crop or provide an economic boom," Smoot said in the release. "Hemp is not in demand, would cause more problems than benefits, and is currently not permitted under federal law."
Smoot and others are skeptical that hemp could create thousands of jobs, as Comer has said.
"Is there a limited market for industrial hemp? Probably so, but the market is not going to be as great as they're proposing it to be," said Sheriff Kevin Johnson of Clay County.
Under federal law enforcement restrictions, hemp may not be grown because it is the same basic plant as marijuana. Paul has filed legislation to distinguish between them based on the low level of the drug THC in hemp.
But Kentucky law enforcement officers expressed concerns that hemp cultivation would hurt their efforts to eradicate marijuana.
"I believe this is just the first step in the process to legalize marijuana, which I'm definitely against," Johnson said. "it has the potential of creating mass confusion and problems for law enforcement."
According to the news release, more than 370 members of the Kentucky Narcotics Officers' Association voted unanimously in November to oppose hemp legislation. The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce supports the bills.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/29/3206482/drug-enforcement-groups-criticize.html#storylink=cpy