Maureen Hayden, writing for CNHI, has an article that appeared in the Trib Star (again – just an awful website design – way too busy) entitled “Some have high hopes for Indiana hemp crop.”
Hemp has apparently been illegal to grow since 1970 except that, in 2014, the federal government opened up the possibility of getting a waiver from the DEA to grow the crop for agricultural research. Purdue has obtained such a waiver and, yesterday, had a hemp field day.
The ban is part of the War on (Some) Drugs even though the hemp in question has a very low THC content and is, I’m told, useless in terms of getting you high. I’m speculating that the point of the ban is that this industrial hemp looks a lot like marijuana and, therefore, would make anti-marijuana enforcement efforts more difficult?
In any case, the Purdue researchers were successful in growing the hemp.
After just one growing season, in which the seed was planted late because of a permit delay and then drenched by record rainfall, [Purdue agronomy professor Ron] Turco sums up the research conclusion this way:
“It can grow in Indiana. We know that,” he said. “The rest of it is political.”
Indiana lawmakers have been hesitant to move beyond the current constraints, fearful that by opening the door to legal hemp, legal marijuana might sneak in, too.
Disclosure: The Turcos are neighbors and family friends. From what I’ve heard, the bureaucratic challenges to growing the hemp were at least as significant as any technical challenges. Lawmakers should take a fresh look at the costs and benefits of the hemp restrictions to see if the restrictions continue to make sense (if they ever did.) There are apparently a lot of uses for such hemp (see the Wikipedia page), including as food, fiber, and building materials among other things. I don’t pretend to have any particular knowledge of whether the uses are economically compelling. However, if those uses are anywhere near as beneficial as its advocates claim, then lawmakers who support economic development and oppose burdensome, nanny-state government need to take a close look at this initiative.
I have a sweater that includes hemp fiber in it. The sweater is at least 20 years old and has worn as well as any other in my closet. Oh, it is predominantly green.
Hemp did and does grow well in Indiana. It used to be a common crop in Indiana. There is still a lot of wild hemp plants in Northern Indiana. I was driving from Michigan City to LaPorte last summer and saw it growing wild in a roadside ditch. But as you note, if contains little THC and is nearly useless for recreational use.
” I’m speculating that the point of the ban is that this industrial hemp looks a lot like marijuana and, therefore, would make anti-marijuana enforcement efforts more difficult?”
Exactly. The Purdue Exponent has an article today about the hemp farm and quotes Dr. Beckerman “People would look at (hemp) and say ‘Oh this smells lit it’s really good pot’. … You can’t tell based on looks; you can’t tell based on smell. The only way you can tell is by doing a test in the laboratory (on the THC levels.)”
So without an easy way to tell the difference between hemp and pot then then enforcers are going to want to ban both.
On a different note, I am not sure if hemp is that great of an agricultural product. Yes, it has fibers and can be made into rope, etc. but then so do other products both natural and petroleum-based. Unless you want something biodegradable the petroleum-based ropes, twine, straps are superior — just go to any farm and see what they use. Hemp as food source? Yes, we can eat the leaves and seeds but there are so many other foods that provide the same. Ditto for every other potential use listed in Wikipedia … hemp can be used but is not notably superior than other sources.
Personally I don’t care if hemp is legalized. I suspect that pot will be legalized eventually — although Indiana will be the 49th state to make it legal :-) — and at that point hemp can be legalized as well and this entire “hemp is great” movement will be over.
Rick, from a few feet away, it would be difficult to tell a hemp plant from a a cultivated marijuana plant. But up close they are easy to differentiate. Cultivated MJ has usually been pruned to turn it into a bush-like plant, not a single stem tall plant like hemp. Hemp has seeds in its flowers. Cultivated MJ is sexed, males are eliminated, and the MJ produces few, if any seeds. (The seeds that these plants do produce are hemaphrodites and will be female plants.) The flower tops are very large. The MJ is sinsimellia, (unpollinated) and that is what makes MJ very potent (23-25% THC content). Finally, sinsemilia releases many very fragrant terpenes. The odor is unmistakeable..
Perhaps Dr. Beckmann should follow the trail of empty Hostess Twinkie packages to some undergraduate dorm rooms and supplement her knowledge.
From my time at Purdue 15 years ago, I can tell you that several of the folks majoring in turf sciences … well, let’s just say that I would be very surprised if the grass they enjoyed growing was the type you play sports on.
Only the 49th state?
We can’t be last in everything. :-)
But that fits within the general limits of our tradition: to fall in the lower quarter.
An inlaw client (chemistry) professor was interested in starting a testing lab. I was interested in taking an equity interest in the venture. Starting a lab would only require about $20,000. But some industry research has convinced me that the industry, medical and legal, operate like cartels and are rackets.
Illinois has medical MJ (MMJ). The launch has been slow because of state recalcitrance. The Ill. Department of Agriculture will be doing the testing, likely to give the industry the imprimatur of legitimacy.
In Michigan, MMJ was passed as a ballot measure. The MI government and many sheriffs oppose the industry and will not create the industry infrastructure. The possession of the product to test would be illegal.
Ohio was very interesting but troubling. A group of ten very well financed “investors” promoted a ballot initiative that would allow them, the “gang of ten,” to grow and sell the stuff. And like Illinois, the Ohio law would only permit state universities to test the product, again promoting that imprimatur of legitimacy. I recently heard that the initiative could not get on the ballot, however. There was a competing group that wanted to legalize relative small amounts for anyone. This is the approach Alaska has taken. A person may possess one ounce and can have three adult and three immature plants.
The only people making money in legal MJ are the business promoters, who fleece investors, and “consultants’ from California who train aspiring market entrants how to grow the stuff indoors and hydroponically. But I have it on good authority that hydropnic growing under intense lights is not rocket science. And you never know what is inside the occasional pole barn in rural Indiana. But get close and take a good whiff. You can do your own research.
A couple of corrections. The Ohio ballot initiative is back on the ballot, creating a cartel of ten growers. The proposed amendment also contains a provision that Ohioans over 21 can apply for a license to grow four plants.
However, there is another measure on the ballot that would ban a provision in the Ohio Constitution that creates a monopoly, oligarchy or cartel. So if both provisions pass, it is believed that the provision banning monopolies, oligarchies or cartels would knock out the MJ provision. A poison pill.
Also, female plants that produce a few seeds are hemaphrodites.The seeds are not hermaphordites, the plants are. Also, I was told that most successful growers clone their best plants, growing the plants from cuttings from the valued mother plant.
Carlito, you appear to know a bit too much about MJ.
Stuart, perhaps so.
Have a granola bar on me the next time you get the munchies.
Stuart, I am not a partaker anymore. But I am from rural Indiana and still catch up with guys I used to hang out with. People would be amazed at what grows on isolated patches of land, between corn rows, in basements of farm houses, and in roomed off areas of pole barns. After all, “There’s more than corn in Indiana.”
I can believe that. When they finally legalize MJ, people will be surprised to see the number of sophisticated operations that seemed to grow up “overnight” when they will simply be unveiled.
By the way, there is a wonderful and informative speech about the history of marijuana in the U.S. Search for Charles Whitebread. He’s a California judge. Smart, funny and dead on. Everyone should know this stuff, because it explodes the myths and garbage people have been told for years.
Oops. He was a law prof. at Univ. of Cal. Law School. It was a speech to judges about the legal history of marijuana.
You are probably correct, Stuart. That seems to be what happened with much of California MMJ. But in California, law enforcement stopped raiding MJ growers years ago in Marin county. Even though growing was illegal, the sheriffs looked the other way because growing brought much wealth into the areas. So when California legalized MMJ, there was an existing growers industry.
But if Ohio passes this “gang of ten” growing cartel legalization model, experienced local growers will not have a shot. They will still likely grow, because even in a regulated market there is black market MJ to avoid the high taxes.
The last point is important. In states that legalize MMJ, many of these MMJ growers grow for the illicit market and the illicit supply increases.