The growth of industrial hemp still hasn't been legalized nationwide in the U.S., though there are many states that have moved forward with their own hemp programs, that have authorized various farmers and schools to start growing.
This summer, a bill was introduced that would legalize hemp in the U.S. after it's been banned for decades. If successfully passed,, that bill being approved would mean that hemp gets taken off of the controlled substances list, which it never should have made it onto in the first place.
Though hemp remains prohibited on a federal level, there are thousands of farmers who have started growing this crop after they have received permission to do so from their own state officials.
However, it hasn't all been easy and some admit that they've had difficulty with federal agents who have stifled the success of their hemp programs by intercepting various hemp shipments, products being challenged, and more.
People today are already spending millions of dollars by purchasing various products that contain hemp, the market continues to grow not only in the U.S. but worldwide. As well, there are many farmers in the U.S. who are still willing and eager to try and get involved in switching to growing a new and more lucrative crop. The state sure doesn't make it easy for them though.
Authorities in some regions at the moment say that they have a problem with hemp and that is that they have too much trouble trying to distinguish it from cannabis.
Hemp and “marijuana” both derive from the cannabis plant family, though they have different biological attributes. Hemp has very little THC compared to marijuana; among other differences.
Officers admit that they have difficulty telling the two apart but experts in the field insist that there are distinct differences between the two and that from analyzing appearance alone that one could possibly distinguish hemp from marijuana.
One issue that authorities have is in determining whether or not the hemp has the permitted amount of THC in it, because if there's too much then they'll force the crop to be burnt and wasted. This has happened on many occasions and considering the quality products that the crop could go toward making, the lives it could help, the act to burn and destroy it truly makes the loss a nonsensical and wasteful tragedy.
Several drug agents admit that's it's been too difficult to tell them apart and therefore it's making it too difficult to enforce the law.
All of the effort to try and keep people safe from hemp and cannabis does a lot more harm than good. These prohibitionist policies prevent economic growth, make communities more dangerous, and unjustly restrict people from exercising their natural rights to do what they wish with their own body or property; whether that's grow or consume cannabis.
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pic 3 -Tom Angell via Marijuana