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Jumping Through the Hemp Hoops
by Todd Howard- Kentucky NORML - www.kynorml.org

          The Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission met Monday Nov. 19th, well after the July 1 deadline which had been established by HR 100 this spring. Eleven of the seventeen appointed members of the commission managed to make this first and seemingly important meeting. Appointed as Chairperson of the Commission was Representative Joseph Barrows, who was not in attendance. Details of how the commission plans to move forward were discussed, but a number of obstacles stand in the way of conducting  hemp studies at the University of Kentucky, which has approval by the Council on Post Secondary Education.

          First, the Kentucky Agriculture Department must design an application process for the commission, which it oversees, to apply to study industrial hemp. Once the Kentucky Agriculture Department approves the application it will submit to itself, the process of jumping through the federal hoops will begin. Currently, the federal government has only approved one state's application to grow industrial hemp -- Hawaii. With this in mind, the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission did say that, although the commission currently had no funding, they may want to send a representative to Hawaii to see how they do it. Yes, you read that right. Also, at the first meeting it was decided that with the holidays just around the corner that the next commission meeting might be scheduled as early as January, thus effectively eliminating any hope that a test crop could be planted this spring. In 1938, "Popular Mechanics" called hemp Kentucky's New Billion Dollar Crop, so I guess struggling farmers can wait another year. Please contact Todd Howard at KyNorml@aol.com for more information on industrial hemp and its 25,000 known uses.