SLEEKSCAPE'S 2022 CANNABIS & MARIJUANA MANIA GRAND SALAMI -- PART II

[CannaBeast]

Good read...

While the Polis stand-alone bill is likely dead in this Congress, and the Schumer bill hasn’t been drafted yet, there is still one stand-alone bill to legalize cannabis that has a shot of reaching Trump’s desk for a signature: Mitch McConnell’s hemp bill.

Co-sponsored by an unusual coalition of senators from Kentucky and Oregon, the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 would deschedule any cannabis plant with a maximum THC level of 0.3 percent. While initially envisioned as a crop for fiber and seed, today’s hemp is largely grown for production of CBD, the nonintoxicating cannabinoid that has shown promise in treating epilepsy and other conditions. But the Drug Enforcement Administration still considers hemp to be a Schedule 1 drug.

“For far too long, the federal government has prevented most farmers from growing hemp,” Senator McConnell wrote in an op-ed published on Friday, which happened to be 4/20, the unofficial holiday of marijuana enthusiasts.

“Treating hemp and marijuana as the same thing represents the height of foolishness on the part of the federal government,” Senator Ron Wyden told POLITICO Magazine, in rare agreement with McConnell. “I’m working with my colleagues to get the current misguided federal ban on hemp out of the way of farmers in Oregon and across the country.”

The Senate majority leader did not respond for this story, but advocates for marijuana law reform are giving him grudging credit as hemp’s unlikely hero. “Seems pretty good to me,” said Tom Angell, of MarijuanaMoment.net. “There could be bigger implications if we legalize CBD production and legitimize that entire market. It would have broader implication than just making T-shirts and stuff.”

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/24/pot-marijuana-2018-congress-218069