Agriculture-focused MEPs are throwing their weight behind a push to secure EU rules on the cultivation of non-intoxicating cannabis – a move aimed at bypassing national restrictions on the taboo crop.
The European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee (AGRI) backed the move in its position on the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), adopted on Monday. Even though the demand on the European Commission isn’t binding, the text urges the executive to set an EU-wide classification for industrial hemp limiting tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the psychoactive component in cannabis – to a maximum of 0.5%.
It adds that “explicitly confirming” the legality of hemp, which is now bound to a mosaic of national rules, could help exploit its potential.
“Hemp cultivation requires relatively few inputs, especially fertilisers, plant protection products and water,” reads the approved amendment, adding that the crop offers “new economic opportunities” for farmers.
The push to squeeze hemp into the text came from MEPs Cristina Guarda (Greens, Italy), Luke Ming Flanagan (The Left, Ireland) and Barry Cowen (Renew, Ireland).
The applications of hemp – a separate variety of the cannabis family to marijuana – range from construction and textile materials to cosmetics and food supplements.
“Hemp has been cultivated in Europe for millennia,” Francesco Mirizzi, managing director at the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), told Euractiv, adding that it is even used to make car parts now. “It’s light and it’s strong”.
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