A monumental and historic piece of legislation seeks to change the Controlled Substances Act by removing hemp and “hemp tetrahydrocannabinols” from the most restrictive Schedule I classification was passed by the Senate on Thursday, June 28, 2018.
The 1,000-page piece of legislation known as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, or just Farm Bill for short, contains U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) Hemp Farming Act language normalizing hemp as an agricultural commodity.
The bill was passed by the Senate without the words “hemp, cannabis or marijuana” hardly being spoken during several days of open debate.
Maybe the senators didn’t want to alarm constituents they were legalizing a banned substance they have been demonizing for more than eight decades?
A few highlights from McConnell’s Hemp Farming Act provision:
- Removes hemp and hemp tetrahydrocannabinols from the controlled substances list.
- Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act, section 1508(a)(2), inserting ‘‘sweet potatoes, and hemp’’ at the end of a long list of insurable crop commodities farmers can now protect with federal crop insurance.
- Allows federal funding of hemp research by amending the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977.
- Allows US Department of Agriculture grants to states for developing more efficient hemp production practices and regulation.
