Title: Hemp gains powerful ally in McConnell
Author: Journal Times
Date: 26 March 2018
Extract:
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Hemp advocates have a powerful ally in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican said he will introduce legislation to legalize hemp as an agricultural commodity by removing the plant — prized for its oils, seeds and fiber —from the list of controlled substances.
Title: In New Bill, McConnell Plants Seeds for Legal Hemp
Author: Bloomberg / BNA
Date: 26 March 2018
URL: https://www.bna.com/new-bill-mcconnell-b57982090356/
Extract:
The Hemp Farming Act of 2018 would remove hemp from the federal list of controlled substances and allow states to be the primary regulators of hemp. McConnell made the announcement on March 26, alongside Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles during the U.S. Hemp Roundtable in Frankfort, Ky.
“Hemp has played a foundational role in Kentucky’s agricultural heritage, and I believe that it can be an important part of our future,” McConnell said in a press release.
The legislation would also allow hemp researchers to apply for federal grants from the Department of Agriculture.
The Kentucky Agriculture Department (KDA) is currently conducting a pilot program to grow hemp, which was mandated and funded through the 2014 farm bill.
Title: Hemp industry lauds pending intro of hemp farming act
Author: Wisconsin Farmer
Date: 26 March 2018
Extract:
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, the industry association that joins the nation’s leading hemp companies and all of its major grassroots organizations, today lauded U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell upon his announcement of the pending introduction of “The Hemp Farming Act of 2018.”
Leader McConnell’s bill, which is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rand Paul (R-KY), would permanently remove hemp from regulation as a controlled substance and treat it as an agricultural commodity. Similar legislation, H.R. 3530, the “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2017,” was introduced last year by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), and has been co-sponsored by 43 of his colleagues, from both sides of the aisle.
Title: The U.S. Senate’s top leader wants to legalize hemp
Author: Cannabist
Date: 26 March 2018
URL: https://www.thecannabist.co/2018/03/26/hemp-legalization-mcconnell-agricultural-commodity/102393/
Extract:
The U.S. Senate’s top leader said Monday he wants to bring hemp production back into the national mainstream by removing it from the list of controlled substances.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a group of hemp advocates in his home state of Kentucky that he will introduce legislation to legalize the crop as an agricultural commodity. The versatile crop has been grown on an experimental basis in a number of states in recent years.
“It’s now time to take the final step and make this a legal crop,” McConnell said.
Kentucky has been at the forefront of hemp’s comeback. Kentucky agriculture officials recently approved about 12,000 acres to be grown in the state this year, and 57 Kentucky processors are turning the raw product into a multitude of products.
