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Idaho House passes industrial hemp legalization

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Farmers harvest hemp from one of Oregon’s licensed hemp farms. File photo.

A bill to allow Idaho farmers to grow hemp for industrial and medicinal uses, as well as allow neighboring states to transport hemp across Idaho, was passed by the House on March 18.

HB122 — approved in a 63-7 vote — now goes to the Senate Agricultural Committee. If it passes there, the next stop is the full Senate.

The bill is significant because the 2018 federal Farm Bill made growing and shipping such products legal nationwide if they have below 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) by dry weight. But current Idaho law forbids products if they contain any THC whatsoever. Without the bill, Idaho will be out of sync with federal law.

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Dorothy Moon

“We were working with law enforcement to address their concerns, and they sent different drafts our way with no real consideration given to the interstate commerce, which is a big part of the 2018 Farm Bill,” said Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley, one of the bill’s sponsors. “We decided we wanted a vote on the original bill.”

In fact, the House was so eager to vote on the bill that it suspended rules so it could be voted on more quickly.

Under Idaho’s current law, farmers can’t grow industrial hemp, and companies shipping the product across the state run the risk of having it seized. Such a shipment, between two states where industrial hemp is legal, has already been seized, and the case is working its way through the courts.

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Scott Bedke

At an Associated Press meeting on March 12 with House leadership, Speaker of the House Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, appeared resigned to having to pass the bill. Bedke did express concern, as had Gov. Brad Little, that it would offer a front for marijuana dealers to grow or ship that crop, which would remain illegal in Idaho.

The Legislature’s intent is to conform with the Farm Bill, in “careful coordination” with the law enforcement community, Bedke said.

SB1166, a supplemental appropriation of $240,000 under an emergency clause — meaning it can be spent right away, instead of waiting until the new fiscal year on July 1 — would also fund the Idaho State Police to buy equipment to test hemp THC levels. The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee and the Senate backed SB1166.

However, Bedke wasn’t convinced that hemp would be the agricultural panacea that supporters of the bill suggest. It was important to pass the bill “so we can get Idaho farmers in the process of ruining that market” due to oversupply, he said. He equated industrial hemp to ethanol, which was also supposed to provide a cash crop for farmers.

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Mat Erpelding

Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, House minority leader, said it would be “deeply disappointing” if a hemp bill didn’t pass, adding that some members of the Idaho Legislature were more “spooked” by marijuana than almost any other substance. At the same time, he agreed that when all the states started growing hemp, pricing would likely fall through the floor.

Recently, the Portland Business Journal reported that registrants in the Oregon Department of Agriculture hemp program told the state last year that they expected to plant 11,514 acres. This year’s total is already up to 25,414 acres, the newspaper noted.

And according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, hemp processors reported $57.75 million in gross product sales last year, compared with $16.7 million in 2017. Processors paid Kentucky farmers $17.75 million for harvested hemp materials in 2018, up from $7.5 million the year before.

Kentucky also noted that hemp processors spent $23.4 million in capital improvements and employed a total of 459 people in 2018.

Nationwide, in 2018, 78,176 acres of hemp were grown — 22,000 of which were in Montana and 21,578 in Colorado.

Idaho is one of just three states that still outlaws industrial hemp, along with Nebraska and South Dakota, but both of those states also have hemp legalization bills working through their respective legislatures.

Sorry, farmers: Hemp still illegal in Idaho

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While the Farm Bill legalized the growing of industrial hemp, it remains an illegal crop in Idaho. File photo.

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (aka “the farm bill”) legalizes the growing of hemp as an agricultural crop, but don’t go planning your Idaho hemp farm yet. It’s still illegal here.

“Industrial hemp remains illegal in Idaho,” said Chanel Tewalt, chief operating officer/communications for the Idaho Department of Agriculture. “The 2018 Farm Bill does not pre-empt state law nor does it prohibit states from having more stringent requirements than the new federal law.”

Hemp is considered to have a much lower dose of the intoxicating compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) than marijuana. “However, Idaho Code does not distinguish between the two,” Tewalt said.

She explained that Idaho law states that any level of THC “shall create a presumption that such material is ‘marijuana.'”

As a controlled substance, Idaho’s regulation of hemp falls within the purview of the Idaho Board of Pharmacy and Idaho State Police.

To make it legal to grow hemp, Idaho will have to change its law to differentiate between hemp and marijuana. Former Idaho legislator Tom Trail tried to change the Idaho law but did not succeed. All the states surrounding Idaho allow hemp to be grown in some fashion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Idaho farmers ready to capitalize on McConnell hemp bill

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Farmers harvest hemp from one of Oregon’s 20 licensed hemp farms. File photo.

Should Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s plan to submit a bill to legalize the growth of industrial hemp pass, Idaho farmers are ready and willing to add the new crop to their rotation.

“If the federal law was changed, there are a number of farmers around the state who are very interested,” said Russ Hendricks, director of governmental affairs for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, based in Pocatello. The organization has a policy to support legalizing industrial hemp as a crop.  U.S. senators are expected to discuss the Hemp Farming Act of 2018.

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Russ Hendricks

Industrial hemp, which contains a trace amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that is too slight for intoxication, can produce food, fiber, oil, and even building material.  Idaho farmers are not allowed to grow hemp because a 1927 Idaho law bans the cultivation of all parts of any cannabis plant with any amount of THC. The 2014 Farm Bill allowed hemp to be grown experimentally, Hendricks said. But to make it legal to grow hemp, Idaho would have had to change its law to differentiate between hemp and marijuana, as well as passing a law permitting the University of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Agriculture to develop a pilot program and license farmers to grow it.

Under McConnell’s bill, states would be the primary regulators of hemp, meaning the Legislature might still have to allow industrial hemp as a crop even if the federal bill becomes law.

Former Idaho legislator Tom Trail tried to change the Idaho law but did not succeed. All the states surrounding Idaho allow it to be grown in some fashion, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.