Going forward, the future of hemp seems bright. Foor mentions a headline from the 1930s that said, “Hemp: the new billion dollar industry.”
Now, the Oregon Department of Agriculture has recorded 1,342 growers and 46,219 acres of hemp; a large step from 2015 when there were only 13 growers and 105 acres. The Bend Bulletin reported that Oregon ranks third nationally behind Montana and Colorado in industrial hemp acreage, and it also is expected to become the state’s second biggest agricultural commodity.
Before the 2018 Farm Bill, Oregon farmers faced even more barriers to grow hemp due to federal prohibition. Farmers had restricted access to banking, water rights and crop insurance, ODA Communications Director Andrea Cantu-Schomus said. Also, due to its misclassification as a controlled substance before the Farm Bill, ODA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were not tracking hemp’s production or value.
Dean Foor, co-founder of Entangled Biome in Eugene that produces CBD products, said despite hemp being criminalized for around 100 years, humans have had a relationship with the plant for centuries, and the opportunities are re-emerging.
“To say that we’re doing something brand new is accurate on one hand and not on the other,” Foor said. “We’ve known as a society and (individually as) humans that it’s a powerful plant that offers opportunity to us.”
CBD is used as an alternative to other anti-inflammatory medication, and has been shown to help people with anxiety and seizures, according to Harvard Medical School. Foor said he started Entangled Biome with co-founder Jeff Ballard because he wanted to find an alternative anti-inflammatory that was safe for him and also for his dog.
“To know that three years have gone by that I haven’t had to take an anti-inflammatory, and I’ve not only seen my dog but also other pets benefit from it, it’s further testimony,” he said. “We get to be a part of helping people find a better way of living.”
Foor added that the plant is extremely versatile and the potential is diverse. Already, hemp is being seen as an alternative to some medication, construction products, milk and cotton.
“It would be amazing to have hemp fabric grown in the U.S.,” she said, adding that manufacturing it in the region would make the business’ carbon footprint smaller.
There are endless challenges still facing industrial hemp, Seber said, particularly because the industry is “rife with ignorance.” People think that hemp is a different plant than cannabis, even though it’s the same species, and hemp’s association with low THC has “no basis in reality,” he said.
At first glance, it looks like a stoner’s paradise: acres of plants that resemble marijuana. But this crop is hemp, a relative of cannabis that has commercial uses ranging from textiles and animal feed to health products. With that being said the question could be answered, YES, hemp could join tobacco as big cash crop in Virginia!
Officials at the Southern Virginia Hemp Co., as well as other farmers and processors of the plant, say hemp could be a big boost to the state’s agricultural sector as demand for tobacco wanes. And it just got much easier to grow hemp in the commonwealth.
Lawmakers have amended the state’s hemp laws to match the rules in the 2018 federal farm bill passed by Congress. Virginia farmers can now grow hemp for producing cannabidiol, or CBD, a naturally occurring chemical that some say has mental and physical health benefits.
CBD products have become popular over the past few years, with some industry analysts predicting the CBD industry will be worth $22 billion by 2022. Until now, only researchers at Virginia universities could grow hemp for making CBD.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has seen a surge in grower and processor applications since Congress passed the farm bill in December. The agency expects the number of applicants to increase even more now that Virginia has amended its hemp laws to match the federal laws.
Wayne Grizzard, owner of Southern Virginia Hemp Company and Virginia Homegrown Botanicals, tends to his hemp plants. Photo by Andrew Gionfriddo, Capital News Service.
“VDACS was not issuing registrations to processor applicants who indicated that their sole goal was to sell a hemp-derived CBD to the public,” said Erin Williams, a spokesperson for the agency. “With the 2019 amendment, I think it will clear up the gray area.”
As of Tuesday, the department had issued 629 grower registrations and 92 processor registrations. So far, Virginia hemp growers are planning to cultivate over 2,000 acres of hemp this year.
In Southside Virginia, where tobacco growers have been hit hard by declining sales and tariffs on their products, farmers are increasingly turning to hemp as a potential cash crop that can be grown in addition to tobacco. Southside Virginia has more registered hemp growers than any other region in the state.
“There’s significant interest in Southside Virginia, particularly among tobacco growers who are looking to add a crop to what they’re doing,” Williams said.
For years, several other states have allowed farmers to grow hemp for the manufacture of CBD products. But Virginia farmers were barred from doing so until lawmakers approved House Bill 1839 in February.
Gov. Ralph Northam signed the bill into law on March 21. Thanks to an emergency clause, it took effect immediately.
The legislation comes on the heels of the 2018 federal farm bill, which established a regulatory framework for the commercial production of hemp. HB 1839 conforms Virginia’s hemp laws to match the provisions of the federal bill.
The Southern Virginia Hemp Co., a farm in the town of Jarratt straddling Greenville and Sussex counties, is expanding its operations to meet the demand for CBD products. The company plans to grow between 75 and 150 acres of hemp this year and aims to hire 40 additional employees to work on the farm this summer.
Wayne Grizzard, owner of the Southern Virginia Hemp Co. and Virginia Homegrown Botanicals, said the new laws could have a positive impact for farmers across the commonwealth, especially for tobacco farmers who have been hit hard by tobacco tariffs levied against the United States by China.
“One of my partner’s farms was for tobacco. He lost all three contracts this year because of the tariffs,” Grizzard said. “Some of the farmers have been forced to grow hemp because they don’t have anything to replace it.”
Since colonial times, Virginia farmers — even George Washington — have planted hemp, using the fiber to make rope and other goods. Historian estimate that by the mid-18th century, Virginia had 12,000 acres cultivated for hemp. Marijuana and hemp were both banned in the 1930s under the Marihuana Tax Act, however. (And yes, that is how the law spelled marijuana.)
Now, Grizzard, once a vegetable farmer, has converted his entire farm to hemp.
“When we first started growing, everybody kind of turned their nose up because it’s cannabis,” Grizzard said. “Once they started realizing that everybody’s getting into it and there’s money involved, they started singing a different tune.”
Until now, Virginia’s hemp industry has failed to keep pace with neighboring Kentucky and North Carolina. Both states have been eyeing hemp as an economic driver for several years.
In 2019, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture approved 1,035 applications to cultivate up to 42,086 acres of industrial hemp, as well as 2.9 million square feet of greenhouse space for hemp cultivation.
North Carolina has 634 licensed farmers growing hemp on about 8,000 acres and 3.4 million square feet of greenhouse space.
Grizzard said the next step for hemp in Virginia is still up in the air. He said the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services must submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture “because the USDA has taken over all states’ hemp programs.”
“As long we’re there to fight, battle and voice our opinions as farmers and business owners, we need to stick together and figure out what we need,” he said.
Grizzard and other farmers are concerned about regulations that could stifle their production and overall business model.
“They could come up with some crazy laws that go against everything we’re doing,” he said. “You never know — there’s always that chance.”
One of the Southern Virginia Hemp Co.’s most popular products is hemp extract oil — cannabidiol. CBD by itself does not cause a “high,” but it has gained popularity as a treatment for a wide range of ailments.
By Daniel Berti and Andrew Gionfriddo/Capital News Service
Capital News Service is a flagship program of VCU’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students participating in the program provide state government coverage for Virginia’s community newspapers and other media outlets, under the supervision of Associate Professor Jeff South.
Jelly Belly Creator Debuts 38 Flavors of New CBD-Infused Jelly Beans. Jelly Belly took the world by storm in 1976 with its lineup of colorful jelly beans, which used natural ingredients to offer intense, gourmet-quality flavors such as strawberry daiquiri, coffee, French vanilla, pink lemonade, and even buttered popcorn.
And now, Jelly Belly creator David Klein is hoping to replicate his 45 years of success in the confectionery market with a new lineup of cannabis-infused jelly beans that include the marijuana extract cannabidiol oil–or CBD oil.
The 38 flavors Klein has already created–which include toasted marshmallow, piña colada, strawberry cheesecake, cinnamon, mango, and spicy licorice–are in a whole new ballpark when compared to the greasy and often chalky-tasting gelatin-based medicated sweets sold over the years at dispensaries, largely due to the Jelly Belly’s decades of work in the candy business.
Speaking to Cannabis Aficionado, the Los Angeles-based candy inventor explained that the idea of infusing his tiny jelly beans with the medicinal properties of cannabis is simply an idea whose time has come–and his gourmet candies are the perfect medium for CBD doses.
“The jelly bean is perfect for the proper dosage [of CBD]… we are putting 10 ml in each [bean]. If people want a small dose, they eat one. If they want 20 ml, they can eat two… They can decide what their proper dosage is.”
It should come as no surprise that his company, Spectrum Confections, has already sold out the first batch of CBD-infused jelly beans. A quick glance at the company’s onlinestorefront shows that all of their products have completely sold out.
But the company plans on offering a wide range of flavors and varieties for all types of consumers, including sugar-free jelly beans and sweet and sour varieties. Their patent-pending recipe even includes fruit juice.
Sounding like a real-life Willy Wonka, Klein noted that “our mango tastes more like mango than mango does.”
For the time being, however, the candies will only focus on containing CBD–jelly beans containing tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, are not yet in the works.
The HIA® Launches National Campaign Aimed at Changing Facebook’s Advertising Policy for the Hemp Industries
‘These are the times we can stand together in support of Our freedoms to flourish and Hemp’s freedoms to flourish!’Darlene Mea
FACEBOOK STOP CENSORING HEMP
PHOENIX, May 21, 2019 —
“With the passage of the farm bill, it seemed there would be a new dawn for stakeholders of the hemp industries absolving them from confusion over whether hemp was indeed a controlled substance — it’s not,” said Colleen Keahey Lanier, Executive Director of the Hemp Industries Association.
“But hemp entrepreneurs nationwide are currently being denied access to one of the most powerful marketing platforms in the world for small businesses restricted to outdated policies that continue to conflate hemp with marijuana. Not all of Cannabis is considered a drug, and Facebook’s new AI technology is already obsolete if it continues to recognize images of Cannabis as a controlled substance generally.”
Hemp Industries Association® (HIA®), in association with Hoban Law Group, Bluebird Botanicals, and Bish Enterprises, is launching a national campaign aimed at addressing Facebook’s current advertising policy of prohibiting the marketing and promotion of industrial hemp via Facebook and Instagram.
Marketing limitations posed by Facebook actually exceed what is required by law and have had a significant impact on hemp companies’ capacity to develop their digital presence. Facebook, with its 2.38 billion monthly users, represents a massive market for small businesses. For new entrepreneurs looking to break into the growing hemp industry, being denied access to the social media platform’s advertising capabilities represents a massive roadblock.
“But hemp entrepreneurs nationwide are currently being denied access to one of the most powerful marketing platforms in the world for small businesses restricted to outdated policies
that continue to conflate hemp with marijuana.
Not all of Cannabis is considered a drug, and Facebook’s new AI technology is already obsolete if it continues to recognize images of Cannabis as a controlled substance generally.”
“Our goal is to change Facebook’s current policy by applying pressure in the most public way possible,” said Lanier. “They use a wide-reaching platform to communicate and so are we.”
The digital advertisement, which simply reads “Facebook: Stop Censoring Hemp” will run daily in Times Square until August 24. In addition, the Association is coordinating a massive grassroots campaign among its more than 1,500 members in support of the much-needed policy change.
“We are asking all hemp supporters — advocates, farmers, processors, manufacturers, retailers and consumers — to join the movement and help us turn Facebook green,” Lanier said. “Hemp advertisements are allowed in Times Square, so why not on Facebook? Hemp is completely legal under federal law.”
This is the greatest news since the signing of full legalization for Hemp Dec 20th, 2018. Mexico wants to decriminalize all drugs and negotiate with the US to do the same. What are your thoughts, comment below!
Mexico’s president released a new plan last week that called for radical reform to the nation’s drug laws and negotiating with the United States to take similar steps.
The plan put forward by the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, often referred to by his initials as AMLO, calls for decriminalizing illegal drugs and transferring funding for combating the illicit substances to pay for treatment programs instead. It points to the failure of the decades-long international war on drugs, and calls for negotiating with the international community, and specifically the U.S., to ensure the new strategy’s success.
“The ‘war on drugs’ has escalated the public health problem posed by currently banned substances to a public safety crisis,” the policy proposal, which came as part of AMLO’s National Development Plan for 2019-2024, read. Mexico’s current “prohibitionist strategy is unsustainable,” it argued.
The document says that ending prohibition is “the only real possibility” to address the problem. “This should be pursued in a negotiated manner, both in the bilateral relationship with the United States and in the multilateral sphere, within the [United Nations] U.N.,” it explained.
Drug reform advocates have welcomed AMLO’s plan. Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, told Newsweek that the Mexican president’s plan “reflects a shift in thinking on drug policy that is taking place around the world, including here in the U.S.”
“The war on drugs has been extremely costly, not just in terms of government resources, but also human lives, and it has failed to accomplish its objective,” he explained. “Prohibition policies have, by and large, caused more harm to people and communities than the drugs they were intended to eliminate, and they haven’t come anywhere close to eliminating the supply or the demand.”
Last October, the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global coalition of 170 nongovernmental organizations working on drug policy issues, released a report that highlighted the “spectacular” failure and global increase in violence that has been caused by the war on drugs. Instead of curbing the problem, “consumption and illegal trafficking of drugs have reached record levels,” Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, wrote in the document’s foreword.
