With support from Sen. Rand Paul, hemp bill clears Kentucky Senate committee unanimously
Feb 11, 2013
FRANKFORT, KY. — A bill that would legalize growing hemp for industrial use cleared a state legislative committee Monday with a unanimous vote after three members of Kentucky’s federal delegation — including U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. — testified for it.
The testimony by Paul and U.S. Reps. John Yarmuth, D-3rd District, and Thomas Massie, R-4th District, marked a rare, if not unprecedented, occurrence for the Kentucky General Assembly.
All three said they would work at the federal level either to pass legislation legalizing industrial hemp or seeking a waiver of federal drug laws that currently classify the plant as a prohibited substance along with marijuana, a fellow member of the cannabis family.
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer, who campaigned on the issue two years ago, and other supporters argue that hemp could provide Kentucky with a huge influx of jobs if the state is among the first to legalize it. An economic impact study is under way at the University of Kentucky to gauge the claim.
“There’s a desperate need to create jobs in Kentucky and this is one way to do it,” Comer said after the vote, thanking supporters.
Paul, who testified he was wearing a shirt made with hemp that he bought in Canada, said passing the Kentucky bill could help keep money currently being paid for hemp products in Kentucky.
“I see no reason why we wouldn’t want to be a leader in this,” said Paul, discounting law enforcement fears that allowing hemp would make marijuana prosecutions more difficult. “... If I thought this was going to allow marijuana to take off in our state, I wouldn’t be for it.”
Yarmuth said he believes both passing the federal legislation and obtaining a waiver are longshots, but he believes law enforcement with limited budgets would concentrate more on abuses of pain pills and the like rather than industrial hemp.
The passage of Senate Bill 50 by the Agriculture Committee, which is chaired by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, means it can now be considered by the full Senate, something that could come this week.
The bill would require growers to be licensed annually and undergo a background check by the Agriculture Department. Each licensee would be required to plant a minimum of 10 acres, a provision meant to keep licenses from people who are not serious about the effort.
Growers would have to keep sales contracts for three years and provide names of hemp buyers to the department.
Comer has said he believes there are more than enough votes to pass the measure out of the Senate. The bill would face a tougher road in the House, where Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said he doesn’t believe there’s a market for hemp and that other countries subsidize production.
“At present I don’t think we can afford another government subsidy,” Stumbo said, adding that the bill, nonetheless, would get a hearing in the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee if it passes the Senate.
He also questioned claims that hemp production could result in thousands of jobs, as Comer has said. A Comer spokeswoman said different countries have different policies on subsidies.
Hemp seeds produce plants with less than 1 percent THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, which has between 3 percent and 15 percent THC.
KSP Commissioner Rodney Brewer testified that, in addition to enforcement concerns, someone could get high off industrial hemp if smoked in sufficient quantities.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who also testified in favor of the bill Monday, said Brewer’s claim “is pretty much exactly like saying you can get drunk on (the low-alcohol) O’Douls (beer). It’s very difficult.”
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