Update DECEMBER 12, 2018: The 2018 Farm Bill just passed the U.S. House of Representatives after passing the Senate, including the landmark amendment that will fully legalize industrial hemp at the federal level! The amendment fully removes hemp and derivatives of it from the control of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and opens up massive possibilities for the hemp industry, American agriculture, and health and science to name a few. There was even a partial compromise on the most troubling part of the law, which restricted people with felony convictions from being part of the industry.

Pres. Trump is expected to sign the omnibus bill into law before the year ends, though the timeline is unclear at this time. We’ll have more updates soon!

Update JULY 11, 2018: The current language of the hemp amendment also bans people with felony drug convictions from participating in the hemp industry.

An amendment to the Senate version of the 2018 Farm Bill would fully legalize industrial hemp in the United States.

“This is a big day for hemp,” said Brian Furnish, a hemp grower from Kentucky and president of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable.

The amendment legalizing hemp began as a bill proposed by Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader in the Senate. The “Hemp Farming Act of 2018” fully legalizes industrial hemp and all products made from it including CBD oil. Under the new law, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other government agencies would no longer be able to interfere with hemp.

Due to political uncertainty over other parts of the massive Farm Bill, and the lack of hemp related language in the House version of the bill, there are still hurdles ahead before legalization.

2014 vs. 2018: NEW FARM BILL BUILDS ON PARTIAL LEGALIZATION

The United States made industrial hemp illegal for decades until an amendment to the 2014 version of the Farm Bill allowed growing by state-run hemp research programs.

These state-based programs vary, with some allowing only university research and others allowing a limited number of everyday farmers. The U.S. grew about 25,000 acres of hemp under these state programs, mostly in more permissive states like Colorado and Kentucky. However, CBD vendors have faced some legal threats at both the state and federal level. Other government agencies, like the Bureau of Reclamation, have also interfered with growers at times.

HOW THE 2018 FARM BILL WOULD LEGALIZE HEMP

McConnell’s amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill would officially remove hemp from the DEA’s list of controlled substances, ending debate over the legal status of the plant.

All products made from hemp, including CBD oil, would be explicitly legalized as well, so long as they contain less than .3 percent THC (the substance which makes people “feel high” in psychoactive cannabis). State agriculture departments, along with Native American tribes, would be free to regulate hemp just as they do any other crop like corn or carrots.

BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR HEMP BUT CONFLICT OVER 2018 FARM BILL

In a historic moment for hemp legalization, the Senate passed the 2018 Farm Bill with the hemp amendment included. Members of both parties support hemp in an unusual display of bipartisan agreement. However, since the House version of the Farm Bill does not include the same amendment, hemp’s future is still up in the air.

Before it can appear before the president for his signature, the House and Senate must form a “Conference Committee” to iron out differences between the two versions of the 2018 Farm Bill. Conferees, appointed from both parties, will meet to debate the final version. Hemp advocates hope that, with McConnell’s enthusiastic support, conferees are likely to back hemp.

Still, “there’s always political conflict in Washington,” Furnish warned.

A disagreement over Food Stamps is one possible source of conflict. The House version of the bill includes controversial changes that would reduce the number of people eligible for the program. Disagreement over provisions like these could also put hemp legalization at risk.

Though the hemp industry overall enthusiastically supports the hemp amendment, there are a few dissenting voices. Veronica Carpio, of Grow Hemp Colorado, objects to hemp-only legalization bills which allows some growers to profit off the cannabis plant while growers and users of psychoactive cannabis remain in prison.

“No one goes to prison for hemp charges, but lives are ruined over marijuana,” she emphasized.

HEMP LEGALIZATION IS CLOSER THAN EVER TO REALITY

The 2018 farm bill is an omnibus piece of legislation which ensures continued funding for numerous agricultural and social programs. Pres. Donald Trump is almost certain to sign it when it finally reaches his desk.

Hemp’s legalization may come through alternative methods, but Furnish urges supporters to voice their favor.

“Contact your representatives and tell them to support McConnell’s hemp language,” he said.

One easy way to do so is to complete this form on the U.S. Hemp Roundtable website.

The post 2018 Farm Bill Could Fully Legalize Industrial Hemp In USA appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Hemp Business Journal recently released their 2022 hemp industry analysis, reporting sales of hemp products hit $820 million. Despite ongoing legal and regulatory complications, the industry grew a total of 16 percent last year.

And that number is expected to continue rising. With more and more states seeing the value in hemp, legalization is spreading like wildfire.

CBD PRODUCTS LEADING THE WAY IN US HEMP SALES IN 2022

Hemp Business Journal laid out a market breakdown of where hemp products did their best. Turns out, CBD and personal care products dominated the business.

Responsible for 23 percent of U.S. hemp sales, CBD products banked in at $190 million last year. Personal care items come in at 22 percent, generating around $181 million.

Here are other major uses for hemp and the total value of those sales:

• Industrial applications – $144 million
• Food – $137 million
• Consumer textiles – $105 million
• Supplements – $45 million
• Other consumer products – $16 million

As mentioned, U.S. hemp sales are expected to rise as laws and regulations around hemp continue to ease.

With Congress increasingly supportive of total federal legalization of industrial hemp, hemp experts are predicting sales can more nearly triple within the next 5 years.

US HEMP SALES COULD APPROACH $2 BILLION BY 2022

Though it’s only an estimate, Hemp Business Journal expects U.S. hemp sales to reach $1 billion in 2019, and climb as high as $1.9 billion by 2022.

This is due to two important factors: Hemp is easier to grow than other resources, such as cotton or corn. With it’s over 25,000 known uses, businesses see large potential in hemp as a resource.

Still, we have a long way to go until these estimations become a reality. In 2022, over half of the hemp industry was based in Colorado alone. The biggest barrier: not every state is on board with hemp legalization.

Since hemp is still only partially legal, the amount of production allowed varies from state to state. Therefore, we aren’t seeing as big of a hemp boom as we could because farmers and vendors still face regulatory hurdles from growing their crops to bringing products to market.

As of this time, experts expect the hemp industry to grow in much of the southern states (namely, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee) as well as a great area of the Midwest (particularly, Minnesota and North Dakota).

However, with more laws being put into place, such as the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp holds the potential to grow even beyond the estimates mentioned here.

LEGAL COMPLICATIONS LIMIT POTENTIAL US HEMP SALES

Congress could be key to this industry’s success, thanks to a bill proposed on April 12th, 2018. The Hemp Farming Act of 2018 was introduced by Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and supported by Senator Ron Wyden as well as Senator Jeff Merkley.

Senators later added the act as an amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill. If Congress passes the Farm Bill as expected, the Department of Agriculture will regulate hemp on the federal level. This would not only make hemp more widely available to farmers but to consumers as well. Almost inevitably, full legalization would increase sales.

Still, complications will continue to persist under current plans for nationwide legalization. The current language of the amendment bans anyone with a prior drug felony from growing hemp. The U.S. does not regulate any other crops in this manner.

This law could put existing farmers such as Veronica Carpio at risk. Carpio is an early contributor to the hemp industry and the president of Grow Hemp Colorado, but she also holds a past felony cannabis conviction. With this new bill, there’s potential she’ll be kicked out of the industry, in spite of all she’s already done. Future hemp entrepreneurs could also be locked out by their criminal record. However, some hemp industry experts hope the law could be reformed after passage.

We can only guess at how high hemp sales could get. Though hemp farming is growing, companies simply don’t have enough of the resource to offer a full range of commercial products. Imagine if hemp was as widely available as cotton. Who knows how many hemp products we’d see on the market?

The post US Hemp Sales Reach Record-Breaking $820M In 2022 appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Have you ever dreamt of starting over? Packing your belongings and heading to a place where you can spend your days working the land, instead of working behind a desk? Thanks to the rapid expansion of state hemp programs in the U.S., more and more people can be a part of this profitable green future and help create a more sustainable way of life at the same time.

With so much happening in American hemp, we thought this was a perfect time to look at some new state hemp programs, and see what is and isn’t working in each state. In this article, we discuss hemp programs in Wisconsin, Vermont, Oregon, and Nevada. We also list the market price for hemp in each state, which we sourced from a Hemp Industry Daily report.

But first, we wanted to share a brief history of modern hemp growing.

HOW HEMP GROWING RETURNED TO THE USA

It all started in 1996, when California became the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana. They were the pioneers. California remained ahead of its time until 2012 when another rogue state stepped in. In this case, Colorado legalized cannabis for recreational use. These two states created a revolution in the cannabis world!

Without California and Colorado leading the way, the Agricultural Act of 2014 aka, the 2014 Farm Bill may have never been introduced. This bill re-legalized hemp growing in the U.S. under state “research” programs. Without this change, the public may have never learned about the life changing benefits of CBD. CBD has had a huge impact it’s had on the hemp market; basically, setting it on fire!

The 2014 Farm Bill left a great deal of leeway to each state to set the parameters for their hemp growing programs. Some state hemp programs only allow academic research while the most successful allow for widespread growing and hemp sales. As with any market that experiences the same growth hemp has, there is bound to be some bumps and bruises along the way. In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of those pains, along with what it takes to get into the hemp business.

HEMP SALES HIT $820M UNDER STATE HEMP PROGRAMS

A recent report revealed that US hemp sales reached a record breaking $820 million in 2017. Product sales are estimated to reach a staggering $1.8 billion by 2020. And another report, published by Rolling Stone, suggested CBD sales could hit $22 billion by 2022, surpassing even legal psychoactive cannabis sales in the process.

The sad thing is, hemp’s multi-purpose use has been around since before colonial times. George Washington grew hemp and the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence were penned on hemp paper. However, stigma from the war on drugs, and even government cover-ups, made us lose sight of hemp’s benefits for decades.

Now hemp’s back in such a big way. Hemp is pouring money into the US economy, providing jobs and opportunity for people who want to put their farming skills to the test. It’s also helping thousands of suffering people suffering experience the benefits of CBD.

There are currently 19 states that allow growing and cultivating hemp, producing a total of 25,713 acres in 2017 according to Vote Hemp’s crop report. That’s just the beginning, as hemp could soon expand in a big way. An amendment to the 2018 farm bill would legalize hemp nationwide by putting it under the control of the Department of Agriculture.

WISCONSIN HEMP PROGRAM IS NEW BUT GROWING FAST

Legalized in 2017, Wisconsin is being hailed as one of the fastest growing states for hemp cultivation.

In order to grow and cultivate hemp legally, it must be grown under Wisconsin’s industrial hemp pilot program.  As part of this state hemp program, crops can only contain 0.3 percent or less THC (tetra hydro cannabidiol) and growers and producers must submit a variety of requested reports to the Washington Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to show compliance. In addition, required records must be kept for three years. These records document a variety of information such as product sources and chain of custody forms. Growers must also allow state officials access to the property to record property transfers.

Since becoming legal, there have been 320 hemp licenses issued. Of those 320, 180 were licenses to grow and 75 were licensed to process the industrial hemp. Registration fees are $350 and annual application fees range from $150-$1,000 depending on the size of the field.

Challenges of growing hemp in Wisconsin

While Wisconsin’s hemp program continues to thrive, there is a unique growing pain that’s getting attention: privacy.

Under Wisconsin’s hemp law, hemp processors contact information is kept private, making it tough for farmers to sell their hemp crops. In an article published by The Cap Times, Rob Richard of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau explained the need for secrecy.

He said, “we were concerned growers would be harassed by people who didn’t understand hemp.”

To remedy this problem, Richard is working with Larry Konopacki, a former legislative counsel attorney, to create the Wisconsin Hemp Alliance program. The Alliance’s mission is to bring processors, retailers, and consumers together with farmers. The organization is just getting underway, so there’s not much else to report at this time.

Hemp market price in Wisconsin

Due to Wisconsin’s infancy growing and cultivating hemp, market prices were not available.

VERMONT HEMP LICENSES INCREASED 3000 PERCENT SINCE 2013

Legalized in 2013, Vermont has a uniquely progressive state hemp program (as we recently reported).

Of all the states approved to grow hemp, Vermont is definitely among the most lenient. As with all industrial hemp grown in the U.S. approved states, the THC level cannot be more than 0.3 percent. Other than this, farmers and processors are pretty much left alone by the government.

This may partly explain why industrial hemp is booming in Vermont. In the first year, only 8 applicants applied for a hemp license. In 2018, that number increased to 316, an increase of over 3000 percent! Almost 2,000 acres of hemp are expected to grow in the Green Mountain State in 2018. Those wishing to grow or cultivate hemp are only required to pay an annual application fee of $25. This covers farmers wishing to grow hemp for any use. That’s really about it!

One reason for this freedom is that Vermont legalized hemp cultivation a year before Congress passed the 2014 Farm Bill which allowed limited state hemp programs.

According to Hemp Industry Daily, farmers in Vermont “do not need to participate in a pilot project, research scheme with a university or state agriculture authority” to grow hemp. So while Vermont is potentially out of compliance with federal hemp rules, famers get to enjoy the state’s hands-off approach and they get access to viable hemp seeds other states do not. And because long-established hemp seed producers in Canada and Europe are close in latitude to Vermont, those seeds will have higher germination rates than if those same seeds were planted further south.

Challenges of growing hemp in Vermont

As of July 1, 2018 Vermont made it legal to buy and sell hemp for those registered with the Agency of Agriculture. The program is expected to ease concerns about federal agencies interference with growers, as long as the growers comply with the states program. This program will set up a lab certification standard under a quality control program. It also allows Vermont farmers to purchase hemp seeds from out-of-state seed suppliers.

It’s important to note however that it’s not all hemp rainbows and ponies in Vermont. Hemp farmers and the like are dealing with a number of growing pains. For one, the state is about to face increased competition from their larger neighbors, New York and Canada. And if Vermont’s legislature and the governor decide to legalize recreational marijuana, that could create a whole new set of guidelines to deal with. Finally, as with any state, Vermont hemp growers need a clear hemp growing and sales plan if they wish to be profitable.

Hemp market price in Vermont

• $100 per pound of dried flowers/buds for CBD extraction
• $0.80-$1.20 per pound for edible seeds used in food products or pressed for seed oil.
• $.10 per pound for stalks used for their fiber

‘HEMP IS THE NEW GOLD RUSH’ IN OREGON

Oregon authorized hemp cultivation in 2009, but the state’s Department of Agriculture didn’t license the first hemp growers until 2015.

Since that time, the Oregon hemp market (thanks to CBD) has exploded. In its purified distilled form, CBD oil can fetch thousands of dollars per kilo. Farmers here can make more than 100k an acre growing hemp! In the first year (2015) that Oregon offered hemp licenses only 12 were issued. Last year (2017) hemp licenses across the board increase dramatically. Oregon issued:

• 233 hemp growers licenses
• 170 licensed hemp processors, called “handlers”
• 119 licensed producers of viable hemp seeds

Over 3,500 land acres were licensed for cultivation!

To sum the up the feeling in Oregon, farmer Jerrad said it best in Insurance Journal: “Word on the street is everybody thinks hemp is the new gold rush!”

Hemp entrepreneurs face some heavy startup fees in Oregon. First off, they must pay a separate license for growing and processing. Each license is $1,300. Plus there is a $120 fee for seed production registration.

Oregon doesn’t require background checks for growers or producers. However, the state exhaustively tests all hemp. The law requires growers and producers to use only laboratories approved by the state government. This past October, some new testing requirements were implemented that will end up costing Oregon upward of $50,000, which will most likely be passed down to the farmers.

Challenges of growing hemp in Oregon

An oversupply of marijuana has driven Oregon’s marijuana prices to rock bottom, which has resulted in pot farmers to turn to industrial hemp.

As Oregon issues more hemp licenses, hemp prices will most likely decrease, driving down the market. In addition, earlier this year, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed into law SB1015. This law allows industrial hemp to enter the recreational cannabis supply line if the hemp farmers are certified by the OLCC to do so.  Recreational marijuana processors are also able to apply for a special “endorsement” that will allow them to accept hemp and hemp products.

The recreational processors then make the hemp, which must be 0.5 percent THC or less, into their concentrate and extract products. But with some marijuana farmers already searching for drastic means to rid themselves of inventory surplus, even destroying their own product, bringing industrial hemp in cannot be a good thing. Doing so will only drive more and more farmers to turn to cultivating industrial hemp, which will eventually lead to a surplus there. Now, should CBD become federally legal, this might not be a challenge, it may be an opportunity.

Hemp parket price in Oregon

• $100 or more per pound of dried flowers or buds for CBD extraction
• Less than $.50 for edible seed
• $0 for stalks used for fiber because the Oregon market is too limited

HEMP IS ‘TAKING OFF LIKE A WEED’ IN NEVADA

Like Wisconsin, hemp in Nevada is still in its infancy stages. Legalized in 2017, hemp farming in Nevada is spreading fast.

“It’s taking off like a weed” said Tick Segerblom in an article by the The Nevada Independent.

Mr. Segerblom, who as a state senator sponsored the bills that were a framework for Nevada’s hemp program went on to say, “there’s an incredible amount of interest in it.”

There were originally 11 growers planting 319 acres in 2016 to 32 growers planning to plant 718 acres in 2018.

Nevada requires a separate license for growers, producers, and handlers. The grower license requires a $500 application fee plus $5.00 per acre/.33 per sq. for indoor grows plus and all fees incurred by the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Handlers pay a $1000 application fee plus fees incurred by the NDA. Producers pay a $100 application fee, NDA fees and the same acreage and square foot fees as growers. By law, the NDA must approve all seed purchases. They do allow for non-NDA certified seeds on five planted acres or less.

Challenges of growing hemp in Nevada

The biggest challenge for the Nevada hemp industry has to do with the federal regulations against hemp. Most of the hemp in Nevada is slated for human consumption, including CBD. Other uses for hemp, such as textiles, ropes, and paper are virtually ignored because to process these items takes big equipment and big dollars. Investors aren’t willing to invest until hemp is federally legal.

Hemp market price in Nevada

• $200 or more per pound for flower, depending on CBD content and quality.
• $10 per pound for food-grade seeds
• $45 per gallon for seed oil
• $200 per ton of baled fiber

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF STATE HEMP PROGRAMS?

At first glance it might seem as if legalizing industrial hemp across the board would be the best and only real solution to everything.

Whether it’s lack of industry expansion Nevada faces, the privacy rules Wisconsin has in place, or the potential market implosion in Oregon, legalized hemp would definitely have a positive impact to many of the challenges outlined.

However, legalized hemp will most likely present a whole new set of challenges anyway. For example, how should states handle intrastate commerce? Will there be a mandate on hemp prices? As of this article, Nevada’s hemp prices are through the roof at $200 or more for dried flowers, where Vermont is selling at $100.00 for the same.

Additionally, while the 2018 Farm Bill could soon legalize hemp, the current amendment would also ban felony drug convicts from growing hemp. No other agricultural crop faces similar restrictions, and both farmers and hemp advocates have objected to the provision.

For now, we can delight in the fact that hemp is back and back in a huge way. Legal hemp created a new economy, revealed awe-inspiring medical potential, and makes use of otherwise unused land.

Let’s all hope the federal government does the right thing and legalizes industrial hemp for every possible use imaginable, and for everyone to grow!

The post New State Hemp Programs: Growing Hemp In Wisconsin, Vermont, Oregon & Nevada appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

There are many products that utilize hemp; clothing, skincare products, CBD oils & tinctures, and hemp-enhanced edibles, but there remains a noticeable absence of hemp in the alcohol industry. Most notably, the craft beer market, a market that’s notorious for experimentation to produce unique flavors.

Thanks to unmet market needs and the relaxing regulations towards hemp & cannabis products, breweries such as New Belgium have initiated their foray into the hemp craft beer market. Upon their release of “The Hemperor,” the Colorado brewery gained nationwide media attention due to this trailblazing and delicious beverage.

Previously, we reviewed The Hemperor and interviewed a local maker of hemp wine. The recent growth of hemp craft beer left us eager to look deeper into this enticing topic.

THE CURRENT STATE OF THE HEMP CRAFT BEER MARKET

Other breweries looking to imitate New Belgium’s success must fight a gauntlet of obstacles.

Thanks to the difficulty of state and federal regulations, New Belgium had to experiment with many iterations of The Hemperor. This is because the use of hemp flowers & leaves in products is forbidden by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The use of CBD is also forbidden in alcohol products with national distribution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKqUX7QQlTo

Eventually, the brewery landed on hulled hemp seeds as the base for The Hemperor. Hulled hemp seeds, better known as hemp hearts, are an ingredient that can be found in your local supermarket. Hemp hearts are versatile, and can be used in many applications such as making hemp milk. Now, The Hemperor is available in all states except Kansas (party poopers if you ask us).

With the success of New Belgium, major beer companies are looking to get a slice of the pie. Corona & Modelo manufacturer Constellation Brands, Blue Moon founder Keith Villa, and Molson Coors are some of the notable names looking to dip their toes into hemp and cannabis beer. Constellation Brands and Molson Coors partnered with Canadian cannabis producers, while Keith Villa is working with a producer in his home state of Colorado.

BREWERIES THAT MAKE HEMP CRAFT BEER

New Belgium Brewing: The Hemperor

New Belgium are experiencing a moment as the most recognized hemp craft beer trailblazer. Released in April of this year, New Belgium have already experienced an instant success with The Hemperor. While they haven’t released a statement with future plans, one can almost be sure that they will release more hemp infused products.

Sweetwater Brewing Company: 420 Strain G13 IPA

This Atlanta based brewery has long been a fan of cannabis culture. Their best seller is the aptly named “420 Extra Pale Ale.” This past June, the brewery finally released their first (of seemingly many to come) hemp-enhanced beers. Their new beverage, “420 Strain G13 IPA,” mimics the famous G13 strain of psychoactive cannabis in terms of smell and taste, without the high. Sweetwater achieves this by infusing the pale ale with hemp, hops, terpenes, and other organic materials.

In a statement in the New York Times, co-founder Freddy Bensch says: “We think the drinker and the cannabis consumer are the same person.”

Bensch means that by releasing their G13 product, the brewery is tapping into a market that’s already connected to their traditional target-market. It’s worth noting that in just a couple of months, the G13 IPA has become their 2nd highest selling product.

Lagunitas Brewing: Hi-Fi Hops

With the recreational use of psychoactive cannabis becoming legal, California-based Lagunitas Brewery pounced on the new market. Releasing their “Hi-Fi Hops” product line, in collaboration with CannaCraft (a cannabis-extract manufacturer), they offer cannabis-infused sparkling water drinks. Hi-Fi Hops products can only be found in medical marijuana dispensaries in California. While a little more left-field, the introduction of a cannabis-infused sparkling water opens the conversation up from merely a beer product, into a whole slew of hemp, CBD & THC-infused beverages.

Lagunitas is at the forefront of the fusion of cannabis into traditional drinks.

WHERE HEMP CRAFT BEER FITS INTO CRAFT BEER CULTURE

So where does hemp craft beer stand within existing craft beer culture?

Craft beer culture is already at the forefront of counterculture. Craft beers began with mad-scientist brewers looking for new flavors in unconventional ingredients. Long synonymous with bearded, beanie-wearing hipsters, craft beer culture is comfortable standing out. In fact, being different is the greatest asset of a craft beer. One needs only to look at the ingredients and artwork on their bottles to recognize this.

Cannabis and hemp belong to the same family of plants as hops. Breweries such as New Belgium and Sweetwater are using the green & herbal notes of the hemp plant to enhance their IPAs, which already tout flavors of bitterness, freshness and hoppiness.

So, we think that hemp craft beers will fit right in! In fact, we believe it’ll do more than fit in, we think they will thrive. The same hipster beanie-wearing dudes who drink IPAs are probably already using hemp in their breakfasts or daily supplements; so why not have hemp with their beer?

The post Hemp Craft Beer & The Breweries That Make It appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

The 2020 election was a referendum on the legalization of cannabis, as much as it was a vote about who would represent us or lead the country. We believe that federally legalizing cannabis will help the hemp industry, too.

In the 2020 election, voters in 4 states legalized the possession of psychoactive cannabis (a.k.a “marijuana”) by adults. Two more states approved medical cannabis. In total, 36 states now support some form of possession of psychoactive cannabis, whether for medicinal or recreational purposes. And President-elect Joe Biden might be more supportive of legalization and reform of the war on drugs than any president in our lifetimes.

Legalizing cannabis is an issue many politicians dismissed or avoided discussing for years, even as more of the populace began to openly support the idea. Polls about cannabis legalization consistently show that the majority of Americans support both recreational and medicinal cannabis. And those numbers seem to increase with every year and every poll.

We believe that legalizing cannabis is good for the country, and good for industrial hemp too. Even though the U.S. legalized hemp in 2018, barriers remain that make it hard for our favorite plant to thrive here. Some of those would disappear if all forms of cannabis became legal.

Update December 2020: U.S. House of Reps passes ‘MORE Act’ Calling For Cannabis Decriminalization

About one month after the election, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the historic Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. This bill would deschedule cannabis, making possession no longer a crime, and expunge past cannabis convictions as well.

The House voted to approve the MORE Act on December 4, 2020 despite heavy criticism from members of the Republican party. The vote was split largely along party lines. Republicans issued statements and took to Twitter to lambast their political opponents for even attempting to pass cannabis legalization legislation. As a result, passage in the GOP dominated Senate looks impossible.

“It’s important for farmers … it’s important to get people out of prison and for our own well being.”

As we discussed below and in a December 2, 2020 Ministry of Hemp podcast episode on cannabis legalization, this illustrates the stark divide between popular opinion and political will on psychoactive cannabis (a.k.a. “marijuana”). While Republican leaders like Sen. Mitch McConnell are enthusiastic in their support of another form of the same plant, too much stigma remains for them to openly embrace support of THC-rich cannabis. That’s even though psychoactive cannabis is generating billions for state economies during an intense economic downturn.

Not only would legalizing cannabis help clear up some remaining issues in the hemp industry, “it’s important for our farmers, it’s important for business revenues. … it is important to free up frivolous lawsuits and get people out of prison that should not be there and it’s important for our own wellbeing,” as our podcast host Matt Baum pointed out during our recent discussion.

With a run-off election imminent in Georgia and more political change ahead, support for cannabis could continue to grow. We think it’s time for Republicans to contact their lawmakers and tell them they support cannabis legalization too.

The connection between hemp and ‘marijuana’

Two years ago, Pres. Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill, a massive omnibus agricultural funding bill which included an amendment that legalized hemp.

Hemp advocates celebrated this long-awaited move but, despite bi-partisan support of industrial hemp, the new industry is off to a difficult start. Everyone from banks to social media companies continue to stigmatize hemp, associating it with cannabis which they still deem illegal. That makes it hard to grow the industry, or invest in new uses for the plant.

To fully legalize hemp, we need to support access to the plant in all its forms.

The fact that every state has slightly different laws for treating both hemp and cannabis creates an ongoing mess of legal confusion and prosecutions. Police don’t have reliable ways to tell the difference between hemp and cannabis. Some states are responding by banning smokable forms of hemp, despite their exploding popularity and the fact that the Farm Bill legalized all forms of hemp.

Industrial hemp is a different form of the cannabis plant that doesn’t get people high. Legally speaking, the only difference is that hemp needs to remain below 0.3% THC. Crops that go over this amount typically must be destroyed, causing a tremendous amount of waste at every harvest. 

Psychoactive cannabis is consumed for pleasure, its medicinal benefits, or both. Hemp has countless uses, from medicine to clothing to food and beyond. With their distinct uses, and distinct ways of being grown, the hemp and cannabis industries will probably always be separate.

But if we want to clear up the remaining legal hurdles around hemp, legalizing all forms of the plant seems like an obvious next step. Election 2020 brought us much closer to that goal.

The future of hemp after election 2020

Support for the total legalization of cannabis is creeping up in Congress. The MORE Act, which would legalize cannabis nationwide, could see a House vote as soon as next week. 

While it’s unclear if Congress is quite ready to take this step, the country as a whole seems ready. More than half of states allow cannabis possession in some form. We’re well past the stage where the federal government could effectively stop legalization. There’s just too much momentum. 

After the 2020 election, it seems likely that the U.S. may legalize cannabis, and fix hemp regulations too. Timing makes a big difference, however. It took hemp about a decade to really take off in Canada after they legalized the plant. Cannabis could end up legalized with so many strings attached that the black market continues to thrive. This dysfunctional, divisive political moment could delay progress for years.

To ensure a bright future for our favorite plant, cannabis and hemp need to become priorities for our legislators. If you love hemp, you need to put pressure on lawmakers to also legalize cannabis and to do so in a way that’s just and equitable.

If we come together in support of our favorite plant, we can ensure it thrives in every form.

The post Hemp After Election 2020: Legalizing Cannabis Will Make Hemp Thrive (UPDATED) appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

On September 17, 2020, Texas Judge Lora Livingston extended a temporary restraining order blocking the hemp flower ban. The policy would ban sales of hemp flower intended for smoking, though other forms of hemp would remain legal.

As previously reported, Judge Livingston blocked the policy at an initial court appearance after hearing arguments from plaintiffs with the pro-cannabis nonprofit Informed Texas. With the extension, the ban cannot go into effect until after the court trial, when the judge will hear further arguments about the legality of the policy. The extension allows hemp flower sales to continue until at least February 1, 2021, the next court date.

While Judge Livingston could still decide to allow the policy to go into effect, this decision seems encouraging for the Texas hemp industry.

Previously: Texas Hemp Flower Ban Could Hurt Texas Hemp Industry

Previously: The Texas Department of State and Health Services’ issued new rules banning retail sales, processing, marketing and manufacturing of smokable hemp flower products. The ban was due to go into effect on August 2, 2020. While the full impact of the Texas hemp flower ban is still unknown, we want to share with you how this new policy is already impacting consumers, businesses, and the Texas economy.

In May 2019, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that legalized hemp in Texas, including growing, production, and sale of hemp products. The law banned production of smokable hemp products in Texas, but not sales. Hemp advocates think that this ban was necessary to help the bill pass.

Fast forward to this summer, when the Lone Star State announced these new policies, which ban hemp marketed for smoking. Over 1,600 individuals submitted comments opposing the ban, but the rule was passed anyway against industry and consumer opposition.

The Texas hemp flower ban also bans sales of CBD vaping products like CBD vape juice & cartridges.

It’s important to note that selling raw hemp flowers did not get banned in Texas, only the sale of hemp marketed for smoking. The new policies don’t put any restrictions on how consumers use hemp, including smoking it. Ultimately, anyone selling hemp flower can not market it as a smokable product. They can advertise it as a food additive like cannabutter, a topping for a smoothie, or perhaps to be brewed into a tea. 

The industry responded quickly, launching a lawsuit and obtaining a temporary restraining order against the policy.

Nevertheless, it’s now harder to access hemp for wellness in Texas. Consumers and industry alike will have to navigate the new complications the hemp ban represents. 

Texas consumers and businesses lose education and easy access to hemp smoking products

Even people who don’t smoke hemp seem shocked to hear about the ban.

“Most of our consumers are either taken off guard because they were unaware of it, or not surprised, said Amos Lozano, co-founder of Emjayze Hemp.

“‘Sounds like Texas’ is a phrase I’ve heard a lot.”

Emjayze Hemp now sells pre-made “tea rolls.” That is, a product marketed with the idea that consumers pick up a pre-rolled pack of hemp tea, untwist the top of a single serving and put it into their beverage or food of choice.

Local hemp retailers must shift away from fully educating their customers on how to use hemp products. Customers now need to educate themselves about the benefits of inhalation outside of a natural face-to-face encounter. All because the Texas legislature doesn’t want to allow businesses to discuss a common method of consuming hemp products. 

Vaping consumers could be hurt even more than hemp smokers

Since they can still possess and use the products, it might seem like the Texas hemp flower ban doesn’t really affect consumers. It actually creates a significant barrier to consumers who use hemp for pain relief.

“‘Sounds like Texas’ is a phrase I’ve heard a lot.”

Hemp entrepreneur Amos Lozano on the Texas hemp flower ban

“What I’ve seen is that the sale of flower has come down to retail locations deciding to either sell it or not sell it,” Lozano told us. “The real people who are losing in this ban are those who use vaping products because there isn’t a way to get around it.”

While Lozano can pivot to selling “tea” or hemp flower as a food additive, there’s no similar workaround for vapes.

Sadly, this could lead to people seeking other, less safe methods for pain relief. Many consumers report vaping or smoking CBD-rich hemp is one of the fastest ways to find relief. Cutting out people’s ease of access to their medicine is only creating unnecessary barriers.

Hemp flower ban hurts Texas hemp industry amid economic crisis

Marijuana Moment reported on August 6, 2020, that four Texas companies filed a lawsuit against the ban.

The companies are suing on the grounds that the ban violates the state constitution. They’re also arguing that the Department of State and Health Services exceeded its authority with the ban.

The plaintiffs argue that Texas would lose an estimated 2.9 million dollars in sales tax revenue over the next five years. Crown Distributing, LLC, the lead plaintiff, stands to lose $59.6 million in revenue over the same time period.

“At a time when the Texas economy is reeling from the fiscal impact of COVID-19, it is unfortunate that the State chose to foreclose such a large economic opportunity for our state,” attorney Chelsie Spencer, counsel for Crown Distributing told Marijuana Moment.

On August 19, 2020, Informed Texas reported that the judge in the lawsuit issued a temporary restraining order. This extends the status quo, allowing sales of smokable hemp and vaping products for 14 days until the next hearing. Plaintiffs will be back in court on September 2, 2020.

“It’s awesome that those companies took action immediately to file the lawsuit,” Lozano said, when asked about the lawsuit launched by other brands. “I’m happy that those people pulled their resources together so quickly.”

Lozano looks to the good with the bad with Texas hemp flower ban

As Texas crawls out of cannabis prohibition, proper regulation is vital as it explores the healing properties of hemp and beyond.

Through all the change, there has been a little bit of good come out of this situation. Lozano hopes it leads to a focus on other uses for hemp.

“I’ve talked a lot about what I don’t like about the ban, but let’s talk about what I do like about it,” he said.

“What I like about it is that there is a shift to focus on industrial hemp. The plant can produce plastics, construction materials, and people can do more with it besides smoking it.” 

Lozano said that he believes the Texas ban hemp flower ban, along with any similar rules, will look silly someday. And despite the ban, he remains hopeful for the future of Texas cannabis culture. 

The Texas hemp ban ultimately directly impacts education, marketing, and tax revenue around smokable hemp and CBD vaping products. While Texas is continuing to make great strides towards better cannabis policies, laws such as this just make Texas to lose out on valuable tax revenue and slow the growth of the industry.

Lozano says he’ll keep selling his tea and hope the lawsuit succeeds.

“Right now, all we can do is sit back, wait, and watch eagerly.”

The post Texas Hemp Flower Ban Can’t Go Into Effect Until At Least Feb 2021 appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Evan Nison joins our host Matt on this episode. Evan has been working to change hemp and marijuana laws in the U.S. for years now, with almost too many lobbying groups to name here. The two compare fighting for hemp and cannabis legalization and what the two separate battles can learn from each other. Despite legalization at the end of 2018, there’s a lot that needs to be done to create a stable, healthy setting for U.S. hemp to thrive.

About Evan Nison

Evan Nison is the youngest member of the NORML Board of Directors and also sits on the Board of Directors of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. He is the founder of the PR firm NisonCo, which connects leaders in the legal cannabis, medical marijuana, and hemp industries with influential journalists. He received the 2011 NORML Student Activism Award and High Times Freedom Fighter Award for his advocacy.

As part of his mission to build socially driven businesses, he co-founded Whoopi & Maya, a women’s-focused cannabis brand with actress Whoopi Goldberg and fellow NORML board member Rick Cusick. Some of his other efforts include a Northern California-based cannabis tour company and Bloody Good Vape & Smoke, a smoke shop in New Jersey he founded with a victim of cannabis prohibition. Evan has been mentioned in news sources such as the New York Times, CNN, Politico, USA Today, NBC New York, Bloomberg TV, Forbes, and has been profiled in many more.

Brought to you by Ott Coffee

The Ministry of Hemp is proud to partner with Ott Coffee.

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Ott Coffee combines their artisan coffee with CBD for a whole new experience in your cup. Ott Coffee provides you with an alert, focused, and mellow state of mind minus the annoying jitters, anxiety, and crashes. They handcraft their products, made with high-quality ingredients that leave you with a relaxed and focused state of mind.

Use the code ott15 to get 15% off your first purchase at Ott Coffee.

Be sure to check out episode 43 of our podcast for Matt’s interview with Alwan Mortada, CEO of Ott Coffee, too. Thanks Ott Coffee, for making today’s episode possible!

You’ve got hemp questions? We’ve got hemp answers!

Send us your hemp questions and you might hear them answered on one of our Hemp Q&A episodes. Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

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Hemp lobbying with Evan Nison: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 57 of the Ministry of Hemp podcast, “Hemp Lobbying With Evan Nison Of NORML”:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum, and this is the Ministry of Hemp Podcast brought to you by ministryofhemp.com, America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education. Welcome back to the Ministry of Hemp Podcast. Once again, this week, we are brought to you by Ott Coffee, O-T-T coffee, that is. You can find them at ottcoffee.com. Super pumped to partner with these guys because Alwan, who is their CEO sent me more free CBD coffee, and I officially love CBD coffee. You will love it too. I’ll tell you all about it later on in the show and a way that you can get 15% off your first order from ottcoffee.com, so stay tuned for that. Now, if you’ve been paying attention, you know that this is a show about hemp education advocacy. We call it the Ministry of Hemp after all. By the way, not a religious organization, so stop sending me those weird religious emails.

Matt Baum:
That’s not what we do here. We’re just preaching the word of hemp. Okay? You’re welcome to your thing. I’m going to do mine, but regardless. Today on the show, we are going to talk about marijuana for a little bit. It is hemp’s cousin, the same plant, literally the same plant as hemp, but with more THC. Today, I’m going to talk to Evan Nison. He is the youngest board member of NORML. NORML is the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Now, Evan also lobbied for hemp for a while, and that’s why I wanted to bring him on the show. I thought it would be really interesting to have a conversation about the differences of lobbying for hemp laws versus lobbying for marijuana laws. We ended up having a really interesting discussion. Evan is very cool and extremely busy. I would list off everything he does right here, but I think it’s better if you hear it from him. This is my conversation with Evan Nison.

Meet cannabis and hemp lobbyist Evan Nison

Evan Nison:
And I am the owner and founder of NisonCO PR, the treasurer of NORML National. I’m the board of directors of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and also the co-founder of a couple of smoke and vape shops in New Jersey and a cannabis tour company in San Francisco.

Matt Baum:
You’re a busy guy, is what you’re saying. Do you have a lot of stuff going on?

Evan Nison:
Yes. Yes. I’m definitely pretty busy. I have amazing teams and if it wasn’t for them, I obviously wouldn’t be able to do, or we wouldn’t be able to do nearly as much, but I am definitely busy and my whole team stays pretty busy as well.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. Let’s talk about NORML for a minute because I don’t think a lot of people know what that is. What can you tell me about NORML? As I understand it and maybe I’m wrong, but NORML was partially formed with help from Playboy Entertainment. Is that correct?

Evan Nison:
Yes. Actually, that is a less known story.

Matt Baum:
That blew my mind.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. Hugh Hefner actually made one of the original donations that founded NORML, and I believe in may have actually been on the Playboy jet from what I’m told, obviously. [crosstalk 00:03:14]. Yeah. That’s what I’m told.

Matt Baum:
Oh, wow. You weren’t around for that one. You’re a little too young.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. But from what I understand, and I believe High Times was also initially modeled after Playboy, which is why that centerfolds the bud. They were thinking that it would be Playboy or Penthouse, but for drugs instead of sex was like the model of High Times. High Times and NORML actually sort of helped create each other too. High Times helped fund NORML, and NORML promoted High Times, and both of those things sort of rose together, both the entities.

Matt Baum:
I never put that together, but yes, High Times is basically Playboy magazine, but instead of nude pictures, you get pictures of bud.

Evan Nison:
Yeah, exactly.

Hemp & cannabis lobbying with NORML

Matt Baum:
It makes perfect sense. I never really put that together, but there it is. Tell me about NORML. What is NORML? N-O-R-M-L, correct?

Evan Nison:
Yeah, exactly. It stands for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Sorry. I almost crack there. The Reform of Marijuana Laws, and that’s exactly what it is. It’s a national organization. Actually, international, but primarily focusing on national and domestic issues in DC and state and local politics here. We’re a grassroots cannabis reform organization, nonprofit. When we say cannabis, we mean all of cannabis, including hemp, of course.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Evan Nison:
We view ourselves as the consumer lobby and we’re one of the oldest organizations standing. We actually were not the first cannabis legalization, nonprofit. Some people think that. That’s not true. There was a group before us called Lamar for legalized marijuana apparently, but one of the first and certainly the oldest longest standing cannabis reform organization. I’m the youngest board member as well. It’s pretty crazy. I set up these board meetings and some of these people helped found the medical marijuana movement and the legalization movement. It feels pretty surreal. I still honestly have a hard time grasping it.

Matt Baum:
How does a kind like you ended up the youngest board member of this massive… I mean, NORML’s pretty big. They’re huge. They’re nationwide. They’ve been around for a lot of years. How do you end up on the board of directors at your age?

Evan Nison:
Well, in my very particular case, I have a mentor who is also on the board who elected me, which helped [crosstalk 00:05:35].

Matt Baum:
Okay. That helps. Sure.

Evan Nison:
That definitely helped in this particular case, but I would think I was at the right place, the right time. Also, it was at a time where the movement was shifting from the 70s style, pi politicians in the face to exaggerate, to like the suit and tie type of deal. I remember one of the only people lobbying for cannabis reform in a suit and tie, and now obviously everyone’s wearing a suit and tie [inaudible 00:06:06] no longer have to because [crosstalk 00:06:07].

Matt Baum:
Right. That’s changed quite a bit. Yeah.

Evan Nison:
Yeah, exactly.

Matt Baum:
Probably for the better. I love the old hippy stuff too, but at some point, if we want to play the game, we have to wear the uniform. Right?

Evan Nison:
Exactly. Right. Exactly. Ironically enough, I actually kind of stopped wearing the uniform because I was mostly doing it to show like “stoners can also be professional,” and now we’re actually professional, so I don’t have to show it anymore.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Evan Nison:
We’ve always been professional. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
This story started with, like you said, Playboy founding NORML. Recently, they also just launched a huge cannabis reform campaign. What can you tell me about that?

Evan Nison:
NORML or Playboy or…

Matt Baum:
NORML and Playboy together from what I understand have launched this cannabis reform campaign.

Evan Nison:
Honestly, I’m not familiar with that.

Matt Baum:
Okay.

Evan Nison:
We have three board meetings a year. I’m in touch with the staff on a regular basis, but we have our next board meeting on a few weeks. I assume that update is going to be coming down. I’ve mostly been focusing with them on the New Jersey campaign. We just did a promotion with Rick Steves, who’s the travel guru, has his own TV show.

Matt Baum:
Oh, yeah. Rick Steves from NPR. Yeah.

Evan Nison:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
I love that guy.

Evan Nison:
He has a travel show as well.

State initiatives to legalize cannabis

Matt Baum:
Oh, okay. Tell me about the New Jersey campaign. What’s going on with that?

Evan Nison:
We have legalization for Up Cannabis, which would include hemp and hemp is already legal here in New Jersey. We include… It would be adult use for adults over 21 on this case, full legalization, on the ballot, but it’d be a constitutional amendment, so we’d still have to pass a statute through the legislature.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Evan Nison:
But the polling is very, very good. Almost two to one in support, so I’m very excited about that.

Matt Baum:
Okay. Now, let me ask you this. One of the things, we see marijuana on the ballot in a lot of states, New Jersey in this case. What does legalization of marijuana for adults? What does that do for the hemp space? Does that help the industrial hemp space or the CBD space? Does it affect it at all, or are we just talking about marijuana legislation here?

Evan Nison:
In this particular case, we are talking about marijuana legislation, but I believe they all tie into each other in the sense that they’ve all been stigmatized.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Evan Nison:
Hemp itself is not as popular as it could or should be because of its stigma related to cannabis. I believe as the full plant becomes legal, all of its derivatives including medicines, fibers, all of it is going to be less stigmatized and consumed in higher volumes, if that makes sense.

Matt Baum:
Sure. Sure. I’m from Nebraska. We’re an exceptionally red state where we’re never going to make it legal unfortunately because of all kinds of stupid reasons, but we recently just had a bunch of petitions that went out to get medical marijuana on the ballot. It actually passed. Our wonderful governor said, “No. I’m not going to put it on the ballot. Sorry.” Because he’s just that kind of guy, but do you have other states right now outside of New Jersey that are like in NORML sites where you think you can make wins like this?

Evan Nison:
There’s actually not as many ballot initiatives as we were thinking initially, because of like you said, some governors didn’t put on the state. There were some issues with some of the states, but what we’re very excited about is the potential for New Jersey to be a domino effect or the potential for a domino effect from New Jersey. At that point, I imagine New York will probably pass legalization within the next few weeks. They will be giving…

Matt Baum:
New York’s been trying for a while, right?

Evan Nison:
They’ve been “trying.” I’ve lobbied extensively in New York. I think I mentioned I got one of the pens used to sign the New York medical marijuana law. I may or may not have mentioned that. Cuomo is not as supportive as he says behind the scenes.

Matt Baum:
I’ve heard that.

Evan Nison:
A lot of times, he’ll say he’s supportive of something, but he will actually use his political capital to do the opposite.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Evan Nison:
That’s one of the things that I believe has been happening in New York. I think that that calculus will change. The votes are like… The senate’s blue, the assembly’s blue and Cuomo’s in office. The Democrats in both houses have said that they’re ready to pass this. Every year, they’ve been saying that.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Nationwide legalization through the MORE Act

Evan Nison:
It’s just the governor. I know [inaudible 00:10:40] has basically say he wants it and not actually try to prevent it with his political weight. I think that calculus in his head might change. Of course, there’s Connecticut, Pennsylvania as well, Maryland. There could be a pretty serious domino effect there. Then, of course, the MORE Act. It got pushed. The MORE Act is going to be voted on in congress before the election. It got pushed until after the election, but that is really what we are trying to achieve is the MORE Act right now.

Matt Baum:
Can you tell us about the MORE Act real quick? Because a lot of people probably don’t know.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. The MORE Act is a legalization. It has a lot of social equity provisions. I’m not the expert in NORML on them, so I don’t know all of them, but it has the social equity provisions. It has adult use legalization. It has support in the house, which is huge. It really is what we want and was one of the reasons that we were founded to achieve is something like the MORE Act. I’m not saying that there won’t be work after, of course.

Matt Baum:
Of course. Yeah. I think hemp people found that out real quick. We’ve got a farm bill and we’re like, “Hooray, we did it.” They were like, “No, you didn’t.”

Evan Nison:
Right. Exactly.

Matt Baum:
You barely did.

Evan Nison:
Exactly. The MORE Act, I guess, is like the farm bills for cannabis consumers. Really, it’s going to be that level of a win where it’s not the full win, but it is a huge win.

Matt Baum:
Right. Okay. Now, just speaking from the cannabis space, what do you say to win these people over? When we have like a governor like we have in Nebraska who thinks it’s a gateway drug to heroin or something stupid, what do you say to these people that accuse you of just being a stoner in a suit that wants to get high? What is the purpose of… What is normal use to normalize this? How do you talk to these people?

Evan Nison:
Great question. In most situations, the way to respond to that, unless you’re talking to an actual elected official is, I myself, just turned 30. I used to say in my 20s, but now I guess in my early 30s.

Matt Baum:
You’re an old man now. You’re not a kid anymore. Sorry.

Evan Nison:
Yeah, exactly. I’m not really college age anymore. I used to say college aged, but now I’m early 30s. Now, most people can probably assume I’m a consumer or most people can assume I’m a consumer and I’m not the right messenger actually.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Evan Nison:
The best thing to do is for me to get a mother or a former cop or a current cop or a judge to make that argument for me. They’re called non-traditional allies.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Evan Nison:
They’re the most impactful at convincing people. When you’re talking about any issue, you’re going to listen more closely to somebody who you’re surprised is supporting it than somebody who… Obviously that person’s a stoner, they’re going to stay there for legalization.

Matt Baum:
Right. The difference between bringing out like a video game playing rapper or your grandmother who like, “This really helped my grandmother’s glaucoma,” or the pain that they’re in or something.

Evan Nison:
Exactly. Yeah. A lot of our job and a lot of my job has been, throughout the years, especially in the earlier part of advocacy, was actually helping other people communicate to the press and to electeds who they would listen to more than me, frankly.

From hemp lobbying to cannabis PR

Matt Baum:
Sure. Sure. You have lobbied for hemp in the past. Tell me a little bit about that.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. Actually, we were talking before the segment, me lobbying for hemp pro bono is what led to me having a PR firm organically, accidentally, I should say. Same thing.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I think that organically is a nice way to say accidentally, basically.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. I was lobbying for industrial hemp in New Jersey, and I’d put out a press release and a company contacted me saying that they wanted to help support that bill. I was like, “Well actually, I’m doing this for free. You could hire a lobbyist and I’d be happy to manage them, but also I think I could probably just pass this if I have enough time to do it. Right now, I’m doing it a couple hours a week. I’m driving down a train, and meeting with whoever’s down here.” They’re like, “I’m down to do that. Let’s do that.” That turned into a paid lobbying gig. Then, during that paid lobbying engagement, I wound up getting them so much media that they got me PR tools as well, and asked me to focus on PR in addition to lobbying. Then, that led by word of mouth to my first 30 clients, which led to me hiring people. Now, we’re a PR firm and have like 22 or 23 employees.

Matt Baum:
It’s an American success story, [inaudible 00:15:35].

Evan Nison:
We’re like becoming a company. Yeah. We’re becoming a company. We’re becoming a company. Yeah.

Thanks to Ott Coffee for sponsoring our show

Matt Baum:
This is great. Yeah. This is perfect. Let’s take a quick break, so we can talk about our partner this week. Ott Coffee is partnering with us for a second week in a row. For a second week in a row, you can get 15% off your first purchase at ottcoffee.com, or you can hit them up and get a free sample just by paying the $5 shipping. Now, Ott Coffee has figured out a fantastic way to combine CBD and very high quality coffee. I say very high quality because I am a coffee snob. Alwan, the CEO sent me some and I loved it. You can hear our full conversation about how he started his company back in episode 43 of this show. The idea is very simple. You combine coffee with CBD for an alert, focused and mellow state of mind, minus the annoying jitters, anxiety and crashes that come with caffeine.

Matt Baum:
I love coffee and I need caffeine to wake up. It’s a crutch, and I have been thinking about trying to see if I could cut it out of my diet someday, but I love it too much, so I don’t plan on it. Now, another reason I don’t plan on it is because now I can get CBD with my coffee. Just like they said, it takes away that jittery thing. I drink it too fast, I admit, and I drink too much of it. But when you mix it with CBD, it seems to mellow me out just enough, so I’m focused and I’m alert and I’m awake, but I’m not vibrating. My heart is not racing, and I slowly come down the other side. I don’t hit a caffeine crash and decide that I need to grab more coffee.

Matt Baum:
If I do, they have a decaf as well. It’s a part of their relaxation series. It’s a medium roast coffee blend with smooth notes of caramel, chocolate and fruity flavors. I particularly love their productivity series. This is the full caffeinated version. It’s a medium roast coffee blend with smooth notes of caramel, chocolate and vanilla flavors. They are both fantastic. Like I said, you can try a free sample at ottcoffee.com. Just pay the $5 shipping or you can use the code OTT15. THat’s O-T-T 15 for 15% off your first order. Like I said, it’s just great coffee.

Matt Baum:
If you listen to the episode or interview of Alwin, he talks about also being a huge coffee nerd and how he sources his beans and how much they care about quality, free trade, organic coffee, and excellent quality CBD that is infused into those beans. I can’t stress enough how excited I am about Ott Coffee and huge thanks to them for partnering with us to bring you this show. If you enjoy the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, please head over to ottcoffee.com, buy some coffee and use the code to let them know not only are you listening to this show, but you want to support companies that support Ministry of Hemp. That’s ottcoffee.com. As always, I’ll have a link in the show notes for this episode.

Getting to know Evan Nison

Matt Baum:
What was your background? Did you come out of law? Did you come out of city government? How does this start?

Evan Nison:
Well, when I was in college, I never liked classes. I tried my best to not attempt the classes to be honest, but I really enjoyed learning.

Matt Baum:
I did too. Yes. Same here.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. I tried to do things outside of the class, like lobbying, holding press conferences for medical marijuana and things like that. By the time I got out of college, I had experienced lobbying. I experienced holding press conferences. I knew a bunch of legislators and I was kind of well positioned. Again, this is at a time before the industry. There wasn’t many of us who are really involved. There was probably 20 at most. We all knew each other across the country.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Evan Nison:
Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but 20 really, really, really into it people.

Comparing cannabis advocacy with hemp lobbying

Matt Baum:
You’ve lobbied for hemp. You’ve lobbied for marijuana. Which do you think… This might be a silly question. Do you think one is more difficult to sell to the public than the other? Because even though they’re the same plant, one does a different thing and one has less THC. Do you think that selling hemp to a state to get legalized or legalizing marijuana? Which one do you find more of a battle in?

Evan Nison:
That’s a good question. Legalization of cannabis, of high THC cannabis was harder in the sense that we’re talking about “a drug.” We’re talking about addiction. We’re talking about people’s kids. We’re talking about driving. Like there is a lot, there is a lot of really, really sticky issues for public.

Matt Baum:
Sure. Sure.

Evan Nison:
But there was an extreme amount of interest in it. This was more of the case obviously back in the day, but I remember when we put out a first press release of one of our clients going from Wall Street to the cannabis industry, that was like Wall Street Journal covered it on their actual paper, in their front section and things like that. There was just a lot more opportunity to talk to the public with hemp. There is interest in it, but it’s not as much interest, but I think hemp is easier.

Evan Nison:
The real reason that I will say that is because of farming because the Republicans have tied… Especially in congress, the Republicans have tied themselves to farmers in middle America, in Kentucky. That has played perfectly into our narrative… Into their narrative, rather. Whereas with cannabis legalization, we’re talking about inner city, youth being arrested. I guess there would be farming, but I think it’s viewed differently. I want to say hemp has been easier, but it’s been harder to actually have the platform to speak on.

Matt Baum:
It does seem like that because it seems like marijuana was legalized in different states well before we even started talking about hemp and the concerns for marijuana were such that like coming out of the 70s and 80s, where of course, we learned that marijuana just ruins lives and destroys civilizations as we know it, whereas hemp had none of that tied to it other than the fact that it looks like marijuana. It just seems so ridiculous. First, to be fair, the whole thing is ridiculous and it should all be legalized. Period.

Evan Nison:
Yes. Right.

The future of hemp lobbying

Matt Baum:
Okay. End of story. But I can see how the arguments against marijuana, which were so ingrained for racial stereotypes, for crime stereotypes and whatnot. Overcoming that almost seemed to be easier just due to interest whereas hemp right now doesn’t have that same interest outside of some pain relief, helping farms, replacing certain things in the industrial as far as plastics and fabrics and whatnot. What do you think the way forward now that hemp is legal? It’s totally legal, but still having all these problems. What do you see the way forward for hemp being?

Evan Nison:
That’s a good question. Figuring out the issue and making sure that the farm bill is implemented correctly, even if that means additional legislation or fixes is going to be very important. I’m not a hemp farmer. I know there’s incredible amounts of issues. I don’t know all of them in detail, but there’s going to need to be stakeholder meetings with hemp farmers and things like that to really figure it out. I think that the agencies should be empowered to do that, so we don’t have to go back to congress all the time. That would be big because I do think that the federal agencies are not opposed to this. Once congress allows it, they’ll happily regulate it and try to support the industry. They just need the ability and latitude to be able to make the decisions they need to.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Evan Nison:
It’s not often. I actually encourage more bureaucracy [inaudible 00:23:41]. If the agencies don’t have it, then the congress has it and congress has the worst bureaucracy.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Evan Nison:
That’s pretty important. I think also like in a weird way, this is going to tie into psychedelics what I’m about to say. It’s to your point, which I know is totally on top of… Off the map in cannabis, but to your point on hemp being legalized after cannabis, I think that there is a huge faction of people that was like cannabis illegal because there’s a reason. It wouldn’t be made illegal if there wasn’t a reason, and they made that same judgment with hemp. I remember my parents, they’re very open-minded, but they’re like, “No. That doesn’t make sense. There’s obviously a reason they would make this illegal. If it was just a plant, and whatever.”

Matt Baum:
Oh, of course.

Evan Nison:
I think when cannabis became legal and people were like, “Holy shit. We actually were lied to for decades.” Now, they’re reevaluating hemp, and this is where psychedelics comes in. That’s been making much more progress than I would have ever dreamed of.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Definitely.

Evan Nison:
Like mushrooms are being decriminalized. I think that it all stems from people being like, “Holy shit, we maybe are lied to sometimes about these things.”

Matt Baum:
Absolutely. You mentioned about how hemp has really pushed for federal agencies to make rulings on things. It doesn’t seem… Maybe I’m wrong. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t seem like marijuana is pushed as hard. It seems like marijuana has gone more for a state by state win as opposed to going to federal agencies and saying, “All right. Let’s get a full US-wide lift on this, sort of like we did with the farm bill for hemp.” Am I mistaken here, or is that correct?

Hemp & cannabis in Congress

Evan Nison:
That is correct. Well, that’s part of what we want for the legalization, right? Something like the MORE Act that would bring this conversation to a national level rather than state by state. To some extent, it will be on both levels forever just like hemp and even alcohol laws are now, which is [inaudible 00:25:43] constitution because prohibition, of course.

Matt Baum:
Of course.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. Well, we tried for both, right? The MORE Act, we are trying to get it voted on before the election. It seems like it will be pushed off and I don’t ever want to give credit to him ever again, but I think it’s because of Mitch McConnell.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Evan Nison:
Kentucky being… Hemp is just as much of a Republican issue. Actually frankly, hemp is probably more of a Republican issue right now than it is a Democrat.

Matt Baum:
It’s way more of a Republican issue. Most definitely.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
If you look at where it’s grown, they’re mainly red states.

Evan Nison:
Right. That would be my hypothesis is that because the Republicans took this off as their issue and the Democrats, of course, would go along with it because we would have taken it up as our issue as they are probably.

Matt Baum:
Sure. Sure.

Evan Nison:
Or a Democrat, then it just is a breeze. Right? Cannabis can be like that potentially. There is certainly as much bipartisanship in terms of support or almost as much bipartisanship in terms of support. It’s just the Democrats… I mean, the Republicans haven’t actually made it their issue.

Matt Baum:
Right. Right.

Evan Nison:
If they had to vote yes or no, or abstain, I think they would vote yes or abstain depending on if they thought they needed their political calculus. But it probably will not be their issue, but they’re not opposed to it. You’re not seeing ads either anywhere of saying, “Kamala Harris sponsored…” Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Is that out of fear, do you think? Is that what it is? Like, “We’re just scared to… We know it’s very popular, but there is an older electorate that’s a little [inaudible 00:27:19] about the whole thing and we’re afraid to touch it.” Is it just fear?

Evan Nison:
I think it’s actually just momentum. I think it’s just the fact that it’s been decades and decades and decades and all of these politicians have decades and decades and decades of wreck of audio and video talking about the drug war, all this stuff.

Matt Baum:
Of course. Yeah.

Evan Nison:
The fact that no one’s fighting it is huge. In some levels, it’s not enough, right? We want people to support it.

Matt Baum:
Of course.

Evan Nison:
But like I was saying, there was no ads against Kamala Harris and Biden because Kamala Harris sponsored legalization in the congress. There is opposition against Biden for supporting things like the RAVE Act and the drug war. I think the more that that happens, hopefully the Republicans will take it up, but maybe it’s just because it’s a drug issue or because they were the ones who took the real hard stance in the 90s, and they don’t want to fully admit they were wrong. I’m not sure. It’s obvious to see why they took up hemp as an issue. It’s harder to see why they’re not taking a cannabis.

Is legalization inevitable?

Matt Baum:
Do you think it’s inevitable at this point? Has one too many dominoes fallen already, and this is just going to happen and you can either get on the right side of history or try and push back, but is it inevitable? Is this coming?

Evan Nison:
Yeah, I believe. I think everyone thinks it’s inevitable and almost no one is even really trying to push back anymore.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. It seemed like that, right?

Evan Nison:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
It just seems like there’s some delay tactics basically, but they’re not even delayed tactics in the sense, like maybe we can push this off until it goes away. From what I’ve seen, especially like McConnell, like you mentioned, who we’ve talked about a lot on this show, he was very pro-hemp and behind his farmers. He’s kind of backed off and disappeared a little bit since then, but he’s fighting a lot of weird battles right now. I’m not defending the guy.

Evan Nison:
Right. Exactly.

Matt Baum:
I can’t stand him, and I don’t agree with anything he says outside if his hemp stance.

Evan Nison:
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I am exactly the same place.

Matt Baum:
It just does like whenever we get closer to these elections, they seem to get quieter on these subjects to ensure that their older voting base doesn’t think that they’re trying to legalize marijuana, so the hippies take over the country, which…

Evan Nison:
Totally. The reason that the MORE Act was pushed was not because the Republicans wanted to delay the vote. It’s because there were Democrats within the caucus who wanted to delay the vote and those are Democrats and it’s politically okay. Politicians are like… They’re like scared animals in terms of new things. In some way, you can use that against you or use that against them. If you kick somebody out of office for something, all the politicians take notice of that. They’re very reluctant to do new things. When elections approach, they’re very, very nervous to do anything new or potentially controversial even if it’s not actually controversial. That’s just how they are.

Matt Baum:
Now, I don’t know why I’m even bringing this up, but what has it been like to work with the current administration in Washington? They can’t be friendly to this, judging them on a lot of their other policies.

Evan Nison:
Right. That’s a good question. I should actually ask our lobbyists about the Trump administration. We speak mostly about congress because that’s where most of the action is happening. I think… I don’t know this. This is my belief because we haven’t really talked too much about the White House yet, and I don’t know if that’s just because the MORE Act would still have to get through the senate or whatever. But my hunch is that there is probably a belief that if something gets to the president’s desk, not no matter who they are, but if they’re Republican or Democrat, it will probably get signed by Trump, by Biden, by whoever because for all the reasons we mentioned, like their support, it’s inevitable.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Evan Nison:
By the time it got to the president’s desk, they will all have to have been in the house and the senate who put it there. Unless we have a warrior, it doesn’t happen this next four years. We have a drug warrior somehow in 2024 or 2025, I guess is when they’d be inaugurated. I think that the president will not be the issue is my guess.

Matt Baum:
Are you calling your shot? Are you saying next five years, you think this happens? Feel free. Call your shot. I’m not going to track you down in five years and be like, “You’re wrong.” Like, “Try again.”

Evan Nison:
If I had $100 bill and I had to put it on one, I would say yes, it will probably get done the next five years.

Matt Baum:
That’s amazing.

Evan Nison:
I don’t think politicians…. Yeah, it is amazing. Just like politicians don’t really want to vote on this, they also don’t want it around either.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Evan Nison:
I think they kind of want it off their plate as soon as it’s convenient.

Matt Baum:
Okay. You signed this and people freak out and go, “Oh, we can’t believe they’d signed that.” Then, you look how much money starts coming into your state and you look how much benefit comes from it. That probably silences quite a few detractors.

Evan Nison:
For sure. States will always… Again, just like alcohol, there will always be places that do not allow it. Right?

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Evan Nison:
I don’t think there will ever be a situation unless we enshrine it into the constitution. Even in that case, like I was mentioning alcohol isn’t fully true now. There’ll always be local bans, state bans, things like that, but there should be national possession legalizations and you can’t get arrested in any place and things like that.

Matt Baum:
100% agree. What do you think is the single best thing that us… You guys seem to be killing it, by the way. NORML is really out there slaying it.

Evan Nison:
For sure.

Consumer advocacy for hemp

Matt Baum:
What do you think the single best thing that we could do in the hemp world? We don’t have a NORML like you guys. You’re representing us. Thank you. We appreciate it.

Evan Nison:
Anytime. Anytime.

Matt Baum:
But what’s the single best thing you think we could be doing in the meantime? Is it literally just like writing your congressman, writing your senator, letting them know you’re interested because we collected ballots. We collected signatures here in Nebraska. It did no good. None. They told us to shut up, even though we got the amount of numbers. What do we do?

Evan Nison:
Yeah. That’s ridiculous. I think making sure that it’s clear what the needs of the hemp industry are, would be very important. If you think cannabis industry needs, you automatically… Well, it’s a different position obviously, but you think banking, you think taxation. There are certain things that the cannabis industry has made it abundantly clear. It needs to be able to thrive. When you think about hemp, there aren’t necessarily as clear of a set of policies that the hemp industry wants any people to adopt. Right? That might just because we just got a huge win in the Farm Act and it has to shake itself out, but I think being clear and concise about that as it shakes out and figuring that out as an industry and community would be beneficial, for sure. Because if you go out and if you have 100 things that you say you want, probably nobody’s going to have time. If you all talk about the same three to five things, you’ll probably get all three to five things.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Or at least two of them, which would be great.

Evan Nison:
Right. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Matt Baum:
Come on.

Evan Nison:
Exactly. That’s something.

Matt Baum:
You have been fantastic. It’s amazing your breadth of knowledge on this and everything that you’re doing in to fight for this. We’re rooting for you. We’re on your side. We’re your allies and we’re on your side.

Evan Nison:
I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I’m on your side. We’re all on the same side.

Final thoughts from Matt

Matt Baum:
It’s true. We are all on the same side. Thank you again to Evan for coming on the show. I will have links to all the amazing things that he is involved in, in the marijuana and hemp world. I just think it is incredible that there’s people out there like Evan who do understand that we need to do the dance and we need to wear the suits sometimes, and we need to do our homework and we need to come prepared. We can’t just scream and yell. We’re going to organize. We have to let our leaders know that this is a priority and we have to let them know what those priorities are. Let’s get it together, hemp. Let’s do this.

Matt Baum:
Thanks again to Ott Coffee for partnering with us. Like I said, be sure to check out the show notes and check them out. Speaking of the show notes, here at Ministry of Hemp, we believe that an accessible world is a better world for everybody. There is a full written transcript of this episode also in the show notes. If you need more hemp in your life, we have got all kinds of cool articles up on ministryofhemp.com right now, including another CBD review from a brand called Helix Naturals. They do joint relief balm that helps with pain. Be sure to check that out and check out one of our top posts right now about hemp and plastic. Hemp makes great plastic, so why isn’t hemp plastic everywhere? It’s a fantastic article. Speaking of hemp plastics and hemp fibers, next week on the show, we’re going to be talking to a company that is making hemp shoes.

Matt Baum:
I’m super excited for you guys to hear this one. If you want to be cool like Ott Coffee and actually support the Ministry of Hemp because you liked this show, you like our site and you want to help spread the word of hemp education, do me a favor and review this podcast. Wherever you’re listening to it, give us a star rating or a short written review. It really helps to move us up in the search algorithms so people can find us and head to patreon/ministryofhemp.com, and become a ministry of hemp insider. It’s going to get you access to early articles and podcast extras. I’ve got one from this episode where I’m talking to Evan all about his cannabis tour company out of San Francisco. It’s a little quiet right now because of COVID, but it’s a really cool idea. It’s helping normalize the idea of cannabis farming in California.

Matt Baum:
Head to patrion/ministryofhemp. Become a Ministry of Hemp insider right now, and huge thank you to everybody that already has. We’ll see you back here for another episode next week. Right now, it’s time to go. I like to sign off the same way every time by saying, remember to take care of yourself. Take care of others and make good decisions, will you? COVID is still out there. It’s coming back. Wear a mask, continue to wash your hands, and play it safe, you guys. No joke. Flu season’s here as well. Get a flu shot. If you haven’t, register a vote. This is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp signing off.

The post Hemp Lobbying With Evan Nison Of NORML appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

In theory, farming hemp should not be considered damaging to the earth at all. In fact, hemp can be regenerative to the soil on which it’s farmed.

Yet due to the dramatic consumer demand that companies are rushing to meet, many companies (and thus farmers) are now focused on making as much hemp as possible leaving little to no attention on its quality or the soil on which it was grown on. Our legislation is to blame as well: the law which legalized hemp can lead to the forced excessive destruction of perfectly healthy hemp plants. 

Many of us know the hemp industry through its various CBD products, ointments, salves & oils. What many of us don’t know is that those very same products are the result of a complex system of moving parts, spanning across the country, involving thousands of people. What many of us cannot see are the highly specific intricacies at every step, and how they might affect the environment and community around them. Currently, the hemp industry is at an impasse with the environmentalist ideals that it is usually associated with, as there are many problems in the farming and production of hemp that is putting the environment at risk.

For an industry that prides itself on holistic and sustainable practices, it is vital to constantly challenge these practices, and to analyze what hemp can do better.

Sustainability and burning hemp plants

Today, we would like to focus precisely on how regulations can force farmers to burn entire harvests, and how that affects the immediate area around them.

Current regulations often force farmers to destroy their entire hemp harvests.

This article focuses on the start of the hemp supply chain to look at how legislative and market forces shape the hemp industry at the farming level. And how the industry can take steps forward to make themselves truly sustainable, and even reach beyond sustainability to regenerative agriculture. 

We asked two industry experts to weigh in on such this important subject. Joy Beckerman, former president of the Hemp Industries Association; principal consultant for Hemp Ace international as well as the regulatory officer and industry liaison for the CBD brand Elixinol; and John Roulac, founder of RE Botanicals & Nutiva. Their input was instrumental in creating this article.

A 5000′ view of the hemp industry and sustainability

Before we can properly draw a picture of the current state of hemp farming, we must first look at the entire industry and the context exists in.

Let’s remember we’ve pretty much gone from almost zero hemp production to a full on CBD “Gold Rush.” That’s thrown the entire industry for a loop. While it’s great that there is such a high demand for hemp-derived products, and the influx of money will ultimately be the reason why the industry will prosper, it that also means is that there are numerous organizations that are inexperienced and lack the proper infrastructure to meet consumer demand. More importantly, they can’t meet the high standards required for quality products.

In times of such extraordinary demand for hemp products, standards get ignored and corners get cut. This corner-cutting can sometimes go unnoticed, as the draw of profit can take up most people’s attention. 

Now with the proper context set up, we can effectively explore the farming of hemp. 

Burn it, Burn it All!

Under the guidelines set under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp is only federally legal if it has less than 0.3% THC. By comparison, recreational or medicinal cannabis products found in legal dispensaries can have 15-25% THC or more.

These extremely low levels of THC need to be maintained at every step of the supply chain. For farmers, subtle factors like genetics or weather may lead to their plants exceeding this threshold. Under the law, this “hot” hemp must be destroyed.

Burning ‘hot’ hemp costs farmers and calls into question the ethics of a “sustainable” industry.

This policy is just one of many that have made the industrial farming of hemp much harder than it should be. Because of the relatively new market, many inexperienced farmers end up burning their entire season’s harvest, mainly due to these policies.

For the communities around these hemp farms, this means immediate and widespread air pollution with the added visual of having massive piles of freshly grown hemp being burned in open fields. Not only is it a pollutant and an eyesore, but it calls into question the ethics of a supposedly sustainable industry. The genesis of this article was a reader who wrote to us last year complaining about the smoke from nearby hemp farms.

For the hemp farmer, it’s extremely demoralizing, not to mention expensive. Hemp advocates suggest hemp can rebuild American agriculture. But a hot hemp field means watching that promise go up in smoke along with a farmer’s crops.

THC limit is arbitrary

But most of this can be prevented, as many of the policies around farming are arbitrary and still rooted in the stigma of the war on drugs. The biggest policy change that needs to be changed is, of course, the 0.3% rule.

As Joy Beckerman pointed out, “the current 0.3% THC threshold that industrial hemp is held to is a purely arbitrary number.”

“There is no strong scientific and tested backing to such percentage in hemp,” Beckerman continued.

She also maintains that there shouldn’t be a static/single-numbered cut-off point for industrial hemp, she pushes for a “margin-of-error” method that better fits the varying nature of growing plants — as well as the diverse uses or hemp. Which makes sense, since there are so many variables in growing industrial hemp, it is hard to always perfectly maintain a level below the arbitrary 0.3% mark.

She also commented on the inconsistencies amongst state-level legislature (states having varying THC cut-off points for industrial hemp), as that further dilutes the guidelines for the industry as a whole.

A problem of legal semantics

Joy Beckerman further attributes this problem in the sustainability of hemp farming to not just the regulations but the semantics of the hemp guidelines themselves.

When it comes to hot hemp, legislators are using words like “destroy” instead of “dispose.”

“Right now, legislators are using the words ‘destruction and destroy’ rather than words such as ‘dispose and disposal,'” she explained. “And while these simple words may seem insignificant to the naked eye, in the legal landscape, they are extremely meaningful.”

Changing such words could mean an end to the draconian tactic of burning masses of “hot hemp” and change the industry to not only be more efficient in growing hemp that fit the THC requirements, but when they do make a mistake and have a ‘bad batch’ of hemp, they can still find ways to utilize that wasted batch. 

For example, “hot hemp” could still be used in the creation of hemp fabric, or perhaps hempcrete building materials. It might even be used to generate power, instead of simply burning it in a field. This single change could open up new, sustainable avenues for using hemp and let farmers potentially recoup some of their lost profits.

From sustainable hemp to regenerative farming 

You know the old adage: when you use someone else’s stuff, leave it in better condition than when you found it.

For farmers, this is the ideal, as it means that they essentially make the soil they farm richer than before. This concept is known as regenerative agriculture, which is formally defined as “a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services.”

In the agricultural world, regenerative agriculture are becoming the standard that everyone aims for.

In theory, it should be easy to achieve regenerative farming with hemp. Hemp requires fewer resources than many other crops. Let’s take corn for example, which approximately takes up to two times more water to grow than hemp.

Hemp is also extremely robust. It has relatively few natural enemies, it’s extremely low maintenance and often grows in dense clusters that prevent weed growth. It requires few herbicides and little to no pesticides.

When grown at a large scale, the hemp fields can quickly become havens for pollinators, birds and various small animals, which promotes a better overall eco-system for the surrounding area. Then, when harvested, hemp leaves the fields it was grown on with plenty of left-over biomass, making the soil extremely nutrient-rich. 

Why hemp can be more sustainable

At least that’s the theory.

When talking to John Roulac of Nutiva and RE Botanicals, our conversation focused to the current mindset of the hemp industry itself.

“Most of the industry is not focused currently on soil health and whatever the fastest way it is to grow the plant, what they’re really focused on is the hemp seed itself.”

He suggested the focus is on the biggest, rather than most harvest. Roulac pointed out that the vast majority of the farmers are focused on this volume mindset, which he called a “gold rush mentality.”

Less than 1% of hemp farmers are certified organic, and most of the rest simply use synthetic fertilizer as its the cheapest option. He thinks the real problem behind the industry’s inconsistencies are the people themselves: they see themselves as business owners rather than cultivators working in unison with our planet.

Roulac previously appeared on the Ministry of Hemp podcast, where he expressed his passion for regenerative farming. That passion has been evident throughout his entire career and in his companies. To Roulac, the success of Nutiva and RE Botanicals are proof you don’t need to compromise between sustainability and economic viability.

A brighter, more sustainable future for hemp

While we must admit the overall tone of this article is focused on the bad parts of farming hemp, we believe that this is merely a roadblock on the way to a more sustainable future for hemp.

It’s easy to get focused on the bad, but with people like Joy Beckerman and John Roulac championing for a better, more sustainable industry, it is only a matter of time before we reach regenerative and zero-waste farming. 

Meanwhile, there’s also hope for sustainability at the other end of the supply chain. Companies such as 9Fiber, which we’ve written about before, seek to recycle hemp waste. With a focus on true sustainability growing throughout the hemp industry, we’re feeling more idealistic future about the future.

The post Sustainable Hemp Farming: Promoting Regenerative Agriculture In Hemp appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

First, we look at developing Texas hemp regulations and how it could change the future of the plant in the Lone Star State. Matt talks to James Higdon, owner of Cornbread Hemp in Kentucky, about his concerns as an out-of-state hemp producer. James also appeared in episode 32 of the show, our Kentucky Hemp podcast episode.

For a closer look at the Texas hemp regulations, we also got a brief statement from Coleman Hemphill, president of the Texas Hemp Industries Association. Hemp is legal in Texas, but the new regulations could dramatically alter the shape of this fast-growing industry.

To close out this episode, we get an entrepreneur’s perspective on being a hemp producer in Texas from Micheal Tullis, owner of a small hemp boutique. Early Fruit Hemp Co. is finding success in Lubbock Texas despite the small, sometimes hostile market.

Texas to rule on Lone Star hemp regulations

The Texas Department of State Health Services is preparing to make sweeping regulatory changes to how hemp is manufactured, labeled and sold in the state of Texas. Here’ the major proposed changes, summarized from a post by Texas NORML:

• A ban on the “manufacture, processing, distribution, or retail sale of consumable hemp products for smoking”
• Stringent licensing requirements for CBD retailers
• Stringent testing requirements for CBD products sold in state
• Strict requirements for the labeling of hemp products
• Regulations which could restrict sales of CBD products from states like Kentucky and Colorado

Matt and Jim primarily talk about the labeling requirements, and the changes which could ban sales of products from his state. However, hemp advocates locally and nationwide are concerned about the entire set of changes.

We contacted Coleman Hemphill, president of the Texas Hemp Industries Association, but reached him too late to include him in this episode. However, he suggested the state is poorly equipped to implement these changes, since just 2 staff members are assigned to this aspect of the hemp program and no budget dollars have been set aside to implement the complex licensing and testing program.

In addition, Coleman thinks the new regulations might not withstand legal challenges, even if they do go into effect. Not only does he think these regulations clearly conflict with the 2018 Farm Bill which federally legalized hemp, they also cause substantial damage to existing Texas businesses. Both these factors are likely to be compelling in court. Finally, he told us that sales of all out-of-state hemp products should be safe for at least the remainder of 2020.

How to tell Texas to keep all forms of hemp fully legal

We’ll have more a deeper look at this story soon. In the meantime, you can leave a comment on the hemp regulations using this Action Network form or via the formal comment process. You can also call and leave a message for the Texas Department of State Health Services at (512) 231-5653. Coleman recommends both leaving a comment and calling for maximum effectiveness, but the deadline for formal comments is July 8, 2020 (Monday).

You’ve got hemp questions? We’ve got hemp answers!

Send us your hemp questions and you might hear them answered on one of our Hemp Q&A episodes. Send your written questions to us on Twitter, Facebook, matt@ministryofhemp.com, or call us and leave a message at 402-819-6417. Keep in mind, this phone number is for hemp questions only and any other inquiries for the Ministry of Hemp should be sent to info@ministryofhemp.com

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Texas Hemp Stories: Complete episode transcript

Below you’ll find the complete transcript of episode 42 of the Ministry of Hemp Podcast, “Texas Hemp Stories”:

Matt Baum:
I’m Matt Baum and this is the Ministry of Hemp podcast brought to you by ministryofhemp.com. America’s leading advocate for hemp and hemp education. (silence) Today on the show, we’re talking about Texas. Texas represents one of the largest hemp markets in the United States. Recently, there’s been some new regulations introduced that are a little, well unclear to say the least. Back in episode 32, I talked to Jim Higdon, he’s the cofounder of Cornbread Hemp out of Kentucky. He wrote a fantastic book about the history of hemp in Kentucky. He contacted me to tell me about these new regulations.

Troubling new Texas hemp regulations

Jim Higdon:
I’m confident that I’m still confused, but at least I’ve got some firm understanding of what it is I’m confused about and also everyone asks you like lots of dogs hearing noises for the first time. [crosstalk 00:01:06]

Matt Baum:
Right, right, right. I would say any good legislation should be like that though. Right? It should be completely confusing and absolutely unclear, so we can argue about what it actually means just in case we want it to mean something else. Right?

Jim Higdon:
It disappears by my reading to mean something bad. Everyone who should know this is like, “Well, I think I’ll look at that. That’s interesting.” Not like, “Oh, we looked at that and that’s not the case because of XYZ you’re not. Just like uh, uh.”

Matt Baum:
Right. So, let’s talk about it. As we understand it, what is being proposed and then we’ll talk about what that could possibly mean and what the issue is.

Jim Higdon:
As I understand it, talked with you from Louisville, Kentucky, the great state of Texas has already passed CBD legislation to legalize the sale of CBD products in Texas.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Jim Higdon:
What we’re looking at now is the Department of Health and Human Services maybe. The State Department of Health in Texas is issuing regulations on how that would go about. So, it’s the executive branch of the Texas state government setting the rules up for how that CBD industry will operate legally at Texas.

Matt Baum:
Got you.

New labeling requirements for Texas CBD sales

Jim Higdon:
Okay? So, law is passed. It’s legal. This is just the framework for how that would go about. In the regulations, it says out of state CBD products can be sold in Texas. Well, before we get to that, before that, there’s some curious novel label requirements that are going to be required in Texas. They’re going to require all the labels to have the URL of the business, the email address of the business, and I believe a phone number of the business on the label, which is regulation that we’ve not seen before from any other state and [crosstalk 00:03:10]

Matt Baum:
Yeah. I mean, I guess I get a URL, that makes sense. I can see, like for marketing purposes, why you might put your URL on a label or something, but a phone number, that’s kind of odd.

Jim Higdon:
The phone number is odd considering the font size. It’s going to have to be the fit, is going to be like five point font or something. The other thing is that all that is made redundant by the QR code, which is also required in the Texas proposed regulation. That’s a good thing because all CBD products should have QR codes that link to lab reports. So, you can determine the potency and safety of all those CBD products, absolutely should have QR codes and the Texas regulation requires, mandates QR code and that’s good, but with the QR code, it makes redundant needing a URL or a phone number because you just like QR code it and there you are. So, the label requirements are a little funny and could require supplemental labeling at one form or another, not just for my company, but for many company looking to do business in Texas.

Matt Baum:
The catch is not that like, it’s a big deal that the phone number there, but the catch would be, well, now all these companies may have to completely redo their labels just so they can be sold in Texas.

Jim Higdon:
Correct.

Matt Baum:
Got you.

Lack of clear FDA regulations hurts industry

Jim Higdon:
This is just one example of the lack of FDA regulations is causing a vacuum where individual states are making their own regulations, and Utah has strict regulations, but Utah is a small market. Texas is now implementing a unique kind of strict regulation, which is fine, but Texas is a huge market. There’s going to be a lot of CBD companies who want to comply with those Texas regulations, but they’re different in every state. So, as this patchwork of regulations, we’re going to … could have contradictory labels where you have to have different labels for different states and they can’t go to each other states. So, it’s just an example of how desperately we need federal regulations to make these uniform, so states like Texas aren’t stepping out and making these decisions on their own without consulting other states in the process. This is unfortunate-

Matt Baum:
Leaving small business people-

Jim Higdon:
… frustrating, but not really Texas’ fault, necessarily. It’s the federal government’s fault.

Matt Baum:
But, it puts a small business person in a situation where they may have to decide, “Okay. Is it worth it for us to make new labels just so we can get into Texas or do we make new labels I can get into Texas and say, “All right, screw Utah, I guess we’re not going to sell stuff there because their label has to be completely different.”? It’s just a mess.

Jim Higdon:
Well, and I don’t mean [inaudible 00:05:58] Utah as contradictory to Texas, but just as an example like Utah like-

Matt Baum:
Hypotetically. Yeah.

Jim Higdon:
… If you’re selling in Utah, you have to submit all your labels to the state of Utah for approval. If you’re selling in Denver, in Colorado, you have to get approved by the Denver Department of Public Health. Every state has some very curious regulatory compliance to go through and it’s this crazy bureaucratic patchwork that companies like mine have to navigate. Texas is about to come online with this particularly strange set of requirements, but so the phone number on the label like it’s inconvenient, but whatever. It’s fine, we’ll deal with it. The problem is in the same set of regulations for out of state CBD companies, Texas is like fine. You can sell out of state CBD products under these three circumstances.
Circumstance number one is coming from a state with a hit program that’s been approved by the USDA under the 2018 arm bill as I understand that language to be. Now, the problem with that, it sounds very normal and rational is if Texas wants out of state products, then you get products from states with the USDA approved program. The problem is, is the rules that the USDA implemented in late last year are so strict that 14 states have chosen not to comply with those standards and go by 2014 farm bill standards. Those states include Kentucky, Colorado, and Oregon, where the top three producing cannabinoid states in America with the top brands located in those three states. It seems like the Texas regulations bar CBD products from Kentucky, Colorado, and Oregon, unless the second provision in the out-of-state CBD regulations apply, but it’s written in this confusing manner that I don’t know what it means, and I couldn’t get anyone on the phone today in the Texas state government to tell me. So, it’s-

Matt Baum:
So, let me see if I’ve got this. So basically, Texas is saying we will only be able to buy CBD products that are adhering to the 2018 farm bill and the three biggest states who are arguably doing it the best and have the most support for CBD and hemp are going by the 2014 farm bill, because that one was looser than the new regulations, therefore you can’t sell stuff from Kentucky, Colorado, and what was the other one? I’m sorry.

Jim Higdon:
Oregon.

Matt Baum:
And Oregon in Texas.

Jim Higdon:
Again, this is my reading of Texas proposed regulations. I’ve not had any help from anyone and it’s confusing and I’m not a Texan. So, I could very well be getting this wrong, but as I understand it, here’s the language. A registered selling consumable hemp products processed or manufactured outside this state must submit to the department, evidence that the products were manufactured in another state or foreign jurisdiction with one, a state or tribal jurisdiction plan approved by the US Department of Agriculture under US code, which I believe is this 2018 farm bill thing, to a plan established under that same code. That if that plan applies to the state or jurisdiction, this is the part that I don’t understand, if that plan applies to the state of jurisdiction. So, maybe this is the caveat that the 2014 farm bill applies, but if that’s the case, then why have the number one, if the number two is to get out of jail free card?

Matt Baum:
Right.

Jim Higdon:
Then the third option is foreign jurisdiction. So obviously, that’s not the case. So, [crosstalk 00:09:53]

Matt Baum:
I know nobody can see this because if you’re listening to the show, but I am making that twisty dog head we talked about as you read this. Yeah, this is a sticky wicket.

Jim Higdon:
Yeah. It seems like it’s saying that only USDA approved hemp states can sell in Texas. That excludes 14 states as I understand it, that includes Kentucky. So, if I want to sell to Texas, I can maybe do it online, but not in retail. I’m fulfilling online orders into Texas every day.

Matt Baum:
Right. It sounds like we need to get someone from Texas on the phone to clear this up, but I wouldn’t even … Where do you go?

Jim Higdon:
I mean, I don’t know who’s covering the hemp [inaudible 00:10:40] in Texas. Texas is a foreign land to me. So, I’m a little bit out of my depth. I just am focused on this as a business person, because we’re trying to get Cornbread hemp everywhere we can, and really interested in doing the work in Texas. We have … Cornbread is a brand that will resonate really well in Texas.

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Jim Higdon:
We can’t do that if these proposed regulations read like that, like they seem to read.

Matt Baum:
If this continues, it might not just be Texas. It could be a lot of states.

Jim Higdon:
Right. Not just Kentucky. This isn’t just my self interest. This is … if they want to buy at Charlotte’s web retail out of Colorado, it would also apply it seems. It’s just strange and it’s also strange that … I mean, it makes me feel particularly vulnerable that I’m totally wrong because I’m the only person saying, “Hey, is this a problem?”

Matt Baum:
Well, if nothing else, we’ll find out if it is, I guess.

Jim Higdon:
If I’m wrong, then that’s going to be great. If I’m right, then that’s bad, but then maybe there’s still time to change it.

Matt Baum:
Right.

Jim Higdon:
Because these regulations are still in the post stage. We still have time to raise public awareness enough so that they realize that they’re making a bad regulation. So [crosstalk 00:11:53]

Matt Baum:
Well, and even scarier part is maybe you’re not wrong and they don’t understand and didn’t even realize what you’re saying. That’s the really scary part. If they go, “Wait a minute, we didn’t even think about that.”

Jim Higdon:
That feels like the rightest answer. I think that’s the situation because they wrote these rules and didn’t realize they were excluding people. They just wrote the rules. Trying to be boy scouts about it. By boy scouting it, they cut themselves short.

A developing story in Texas

Matt Baum:
As of June 4th, Thursday night, when I’m editing this, we still haven’t heard from Texas. We still don’t know what these proposed regulations mean or who to even talk to about them. Therein lies the insanity of the hemp business right now. All people like Jim are asking is tell us the rules and make those rules apply to every state so we can adhere to them. I can’t think of another business in the world that is asking for this much regulation. Here is hemp saying tell us what to do and we’ll do it, but when it comes down to individual states making rules that only apply to those states, you end up in a quagmire, just like this where three of the most important states working in the hemp business right now could be excluded from retail in Texas, one of the largest markets in the United States, and that is insane.
Now, I’m not trying to demonize Texas. I’m not saying there’s anything fundamentally wrong with Texas. In fact, in our next story, we’re going to hear a really nice story about Texas, but this is a perfect example of where the federal government needs to step in and make these guidelines so they can apply to every state. Jim and I went on to talk about how Mitch McConnell, the Senator from Kentucky, who’s been an important Kentucky hemp advocate is noticeably silent and absent of late. Yes, there’s a lot of stuff going on right now between COVID and protests against racial injustice, both of which are important and need our attention, but at the same time, when you have a discussion of regulation like this, that ends on the 8th of June, four days from now, and we can’t get an answer, that is scary and that could set a precedent.
Jim isn’t alone here. He gave me the contact information for Jana Groda, who is the vice president of the Kentucky Hemp Industry Association, who has also reached out and can’t get any information out of Texas yet. My initial plan was to reach out and find out for myself, but I can’t get that information either. So, we’re going to continue to follow this one and I’ll let you know, and here’s hoping the Jim is wrong and this is just some strangely worded regulations.
No, it’s not all weird, confusing, bad news coming out of Texas. There’s some good stories too. My next guest, his name is Michael Tullis and he is the proprietor and owner of Early Fruit Hemp in Lubbock, Texas. You might know Lubbock as the birthplace of Buddy Holly. It’s a smallish Texas town in northeast Texas with a population about 250,000 people. I was surprised to hear how well a small hemp business could do in a town like this. Here’s my conversation with Michael Tullis of Early Hemp.
Tell me your story. How do you end up in the hemp world as a small retailer in Lubbock, Texas of all places.

Selling hemp in Lubbock, Texas

Michael Tullis:
Completely by accident. So, really I was interested in hemp and I started seeing on the shelves here in Lubbock and I was like, “Wow, that’s really cool. Let me buy one of these pre-rolls to test it out and see how it goes.” I liked the idea of it really, but I didn’t like that product at all.

Matt Baum:
Really?

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. It didn’t smoke good. It didn’t taste good. Nothing.

Matt Baum:
How long ago was this? When was this?

Michael Tullis:
So man, it started showing up around here around 2018. Maybe the end of it is probably when I first noticed it.

Matt Baum:
So just a couple of years ago?

Michael Tullis:
So, [crosstalk 00:16:04] here in Lubbock a couple of years. Yeah. I honestly never even heard of smoking hemp flower. I knew CBD oil was getting pretty popular. So, I was just taking it back and decided to give it a shot.

Matt Baum:
So, that was … you tried it and you were like, “I’m going to do this. I’m going for it.”

Michael Tullis:
I was like, “Well, I’m now going to do this if this is what it’s going to be like.” But, I do like cannabis a lot and I have for a long time. So, I figured I’d try some more out and did some research and I found some really cool farms that are doing some really good stuff. Mostly up in Oregon, but across the country. By the time, I tried a bunch of different products of theirs, I decided I might as well go at it myself, see if they’ll open up any deals with me. So, I’ve got a couple of farms that are working with me, I guess, wholesale. Producing everything there from seed to packaging, which is really cool. It’s really small naturally craft type product.

Matt Baum:
So, not that I expect you to be like a full on hemp scientist here, but you said when you first tried smokable flower hemp, you didn’t like it. Do you know … What went into the process of deciding “I know I don’t want it to be like that.” What is the process of improving it, I guess? What process you went through to-

Michael Tullis:
I mean, I smoked prerolls before not hemp marijuana prerolls. I mean, I kind of know what they’re supposed to smoke like, know what the insides of them look like. This one didn’t didn’t work at all after several attempts. So, I opened it up and it was like a powder. It wasn’t even … and there was little metal pieces in there. It was like really sketchy. I’m like, “It just looks like they just scraped together something out of a grinder at the end of a long day.” I guess I didn’t really think that I could do it better, but that there was definitely someone out there who was doing it better or it wouldn’t be a thing. [crosstalk 00:18:03]

Matt Baum:
Sure. Was that you guys your first product, the flower, or did you start with tinctures and whatnot?

Michael Tullis:
The flower was where we started. We realized pretty quickly that people wanted the tinctures more than anything or the salves. A lot of people want the gummies too, which is pretty crazy. I’ve never even tried the gummy myself.

Matt Baum:
I’ve tried a few and there’s a few I’ve liked, but it’s definitely not my favorite delivery system.

Michael Tullis:
Really?

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Michael Tullis:
I’ve heard they’re pretty good [crosstalk 00:18:34]

Matt Baum:
Yeah. Like anything, it depends who’s doing it right and what they’re putting in it. Right?

Michael Tullis:
Right. Right. So, these same farms that I was getting flower from, they were rolling out their own tinctures and their own salves around the same time. So, I just asked them for some of those. I hooked it up and some of them didn’t work as good as others. It took some time to weed through some farms, but we’ve found some really good tinctures as well.

Hemp at the farmers’ market

Matt Baum:
Nice. The majority of your business, is it online or is it local? Is it people from Lubbock coming to Early Hemp or Early Fruit? I keep saying Early Hemp. Sorry. Early Fruit.

Michael Tullis:
No, it’s okay. The majority of our business is local, which is really cool. So, we set up a booth at a farmer’s market once a week. That’s about all we do here, but the response has been amazing.

Matt Baum:
Really?

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. It blew me away. I didn’t think at all that Lubbock, Texas would respond well to a cannabis company.

Matt Baum:
Is Texas hemp friendly? I mean, I know they’ve got some fairly good laws there. In the beginning of this show, I’m actually discussing an issue with some verbiage in their latest rules that are coming out for CBD and hemp in Texas. From your experience as a small business person opening a small hemp business, has it been friendly? Have you felt pushback?

Michael Tullis:
Actually, I haven’t felt any pushback at all.

Matt Baum:
Wow. That’s great.

Michael Tullis:
I haven’t had anyone … I’ve had a couple of people who will come up and give me their opinion about it, but that’s not the law coming up and giving me their opinion bottom online.

Matt Baum:
Sure. As far as like administrative or governmental, it-

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. Nothing’s been a problem at all. Banks around here were an issue for a minute.

Matt Baum:
I can see that being tough definitely.

Michael Tullis:
Finding a small bank, I think was the trick. A lot of the big banks were still scared, but [crosstalk 00:20:28] local banks, they’ll help you out.

Matt Baum:
You’re dealing with a local bank?

Michael Tullis:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
That’s amazing. That’s totally amazing. What about like credit card processing? You don’t have to tell me who you’re using, but I assume that was difficult to get that going.

Michael Tullis:
It was pretty hard. The company ended up with, there was supposedly a six week wait, ended up actually being 12 weeks. So, we got pushed back pretty far, yeah, at the beginning.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, that’s great. It just sucks right now because everyone is so terrified that at any minute it could be made illegal again. So, major credit card processors are still scared and waiting for the FDA to say, “Nope, it’s okay.” Or … It’s bizarre. What do you think your biggest challenge has been so far? So, for Early Fruit.

Challenges at every step

Michael Tullis:
Really, I think every step of the way has been the biggest challenge. But, once I got banking, it kind of went downhill from there. Everything started falling into place. So, I would say that was it and-

Matt Baum:
The whole discussion with the local banks, getting that set up, was it … this is literally just you face to face saying like, “Look, this is what I want to do. I believe there’s a market here.” You can tell by state law and the farm bill that it’s legal and they were receptive? They were just like, “Michael, we like the cut of your jib. Let’s do this.”

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. It took a few tries and it took a few banks, but I eventually got … I guess I have to get the right pitch down.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough.

Michael Tullis:
They were pretty welcoming. They weren’t too surprised. I guess maybe a few people have been trying around that time and they were willing.

Matt Baum:
That’s great. That is a much better story than I’ve heard from a lot of other people in different states.

Michael Tullis:
I know. I was terrified the whole time. I was like, “Man, this is going to be the hardest thing in the world.” But-

Matt Baum:
Oh yeah. Convincing people that you’re not a marijuana salesman, right?

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. Around here, it’s pretty hard. There’s not too much education on the difference between hemp and marijuana around here.

Matt Baum:
You guys are maintaining a blog on your site. That’s really good. I checked out, by the way, for education-

Michael Tullis:
Well, thank you. Thank you.

Matt Baum:
What about like locally? What are you doing for … Are you doing anything to try and educate the local populace?

Michael Tullis:
Just kind of while I’m there I’m providing as much education as I can answering questions, things like that, but no, I’m not really an outreach person. I even have trouble even typing up these little blogs that I post.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Michael Tullis:
It’s just some severe stage fright that eventually maybe I’ll get over. But, for now I think I’m doing pretty good getting some education out at the farmer’s market that I go to.

Matt Baum:
Cool. What do you see-

Michael Tullis:
Now, if they want more, they know where to find me.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, right on. What do you see the future for Early Hemp? What are you hoping for? Are you going to try and get into your own farming or you just want to be an out like a retail outlet?

Planting hemp in Texas

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. So, it started as a retail outlet, just trying to get something quality here in Lubbock. Since then, it’s worked and I’ve met a lot of great people. I’ve built some relationships in the hemp industry, which is really crazy. So, I’m actually looking to … not looking to. We just planted 16,000 plants.

Matt Baum:
Oh man!

Michael Tullis:
Yeah.

Matt Baum:
That’s huge.

Michael Tullis:
Where we grow in our own this season.

Matt Baum:
Wow.

Michael Tullis:
We’re a little bit late into it, but I think it’ll still work out fine. Texas stays hot.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Michael Tullis:
It doesn’t cool off for most of the [crosstalk 00:24:05]

Matt Baum:
Not too much. No. Barring catastrophic climate change, which is a reality.

Michael Tullis:
My gosh, these days, anything can happen.

Matt Baum:
Tell me about it. So, do you have processing set up? 16,000 plants, that’s not exactly a small experiment you’re jumping into, is it?

Michael Tullis:
No. I tried to keep it as small as possible, but I’ve got some friends that talked me into crazy things.

Matt Baum:
We all do, I suppose.

Michael Tullis:
Right.

Matt Baum:
How are you guys going to go about processing that?

Michael Tullis:
I’m not quite sure. I know we’ve got a place to dry it, which is the scariest part. If you think about that many plants, that’s a big facility.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. That’s like an airport hangar, right?

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. Gosh, I hope we don’t need that much, but yeah, it’s really going to be a lot. So, we’ve got that figured out. As far as processing, we’ve got a few different options. Unfortunately, not many here in Texas.

Matt Baum:
Yeah.

Michael Tullis:
Yet. Hopefully, within the next couple of years, they’ll start filling in. Well, we’d like to just do something simple with it. If we need to take it and extract it with ethanol ourselves, hopefully not, we’d rather have a CO2 extraction, something a little more pure.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Michael Tullis:
But, if we have to, and then get into our own products. If even the grow itself works, we’ll be able to get our own tinctures and our own salves made and hopefully our own smokable flower. We’re growing outdoors though, so it’s not really aiming for that this year.

Matt Baum:
Are there rules against that right now in Texas?

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. Yeah. There’s rules against a lot of stuff. Manufacturing and producing and even retail smokable, hemp I think right now is all really questionable.

Matt Baum:
So, it has to come from like greenhouses more or less.

Michael Tullis:
Yeah or out of state.

Matt Baum:
Yeah. So, do you truly are in the experimental phase right now? You’re like, “Let’s see if this stuff will even grow, basically.”

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. Yeah. So, really this whole thing started off as an experiment. A year and a half ago, I didn’t think I was going to be even successful doing retail much less have an opportunity to really dive into the hemp industry, really dive into growing and learning everything that I’ve learned. So, I guess at this point, I’m happy if everything just shuts down and it doesn’t work. From here on out, I learned a lot and I had a great time.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. I like that attitude.

Michael Tullis:
I’ve surrounded myself with a lot of really good people.

Matt Baum:
It’s fantastic.

Michael Tullis:
Right. Thank you.

Matt Baum:
You’re like, “Oh, I learned a lot and I can take that away.” Good for you, man.

Michael Tullis:
Thank you. Thank you.

Matt Baum:
I’d be terrified person.

Michael Tullis:
I have a lot of really smart people around me too. I’ve got some brilliant people, so I’m not … maybe not as scared as I should be.

Matt Baum:
Fair enough. How many people you’re working with on this project?

Michael Tullis:
There’s four of us that are working on a project and then [inaudible 00:27:13] got a couple extra people helping out.

Matt Baum:
That is awesome. So, you said hopefully you would like to have it processed somewhere and then you want to turn it into your own tinctures, your own oils and topicals and whatnot.

Michael Tullis:
That’s the plan. That’s my plan for it anyways. We’ll see what everyone else wants to do.

Matt Baum:
Sure.

Michael Tullis:
But, we’re all moving in that direction. It’d be nice to be able to brand it and get our own products out there. So, we’re doing this … My store this kind of small batch from farm to table type product and I’d like to be able to do that for myself, integrate my own … in that direction as well, you know?

Matt Baum:
Then it’s world domination after that. Right?

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. If I can take care of my house first, but you should let me take over the world, we’ll have a good time.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, that’s important. Definitely. I’ve talked to people in LA and Minneapolis and Seattle, but not a lot of small town hemp retailers out there right now. So, it’s cool that something like this can even work in Lubbock.

Michael Tullis:
Yeah. I thought so too. Hopefully, it stays working.

Matt Baum:
Yeah, man. I hope the best for you. I appreciate the flower that you sent me. It was fantastic, by the way. I really enjoyed it.

Michael Tullis:
Really? Yeah, I’m glad you liked it.

Matt Baum:
Definitely.

Michael Tullis:
Glad you liked it.

Matt Baum:
I’ll have links to Michael’s Early Hemp site in the notes of this episode. I was really fortunate and glad that I could get two stories from Texas, one that’s kind of weird and hopefully turns out to be good and one that just is good. A small business run by a local proprietor who’s trying to spread the word through education and quality products. I think it really illustrates how somebody who cares about hemp and CBD and does their homework and works with the right people and seeks to educate their local populace can succeed no matter where they are. I hope if you’re listening, you’ll throw a click Michael’s way and at least check out his site.

Black Lives Matter: Final thoughts from Matt

That is it for another episode of the Ministry of Hemp podcast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting. If you haven’t had a chance yet, please head over to Patreon\ministryofhemp and become a ministry of hemp insider. It will get you early access to our articles, extra content, podcast extras and more importantly, it helps us spread the good word of hemp.
If you dig the show and you believe in what we’re doing, please help out. If you can’t, that’s fine too. You can write a review of this show or leave it a star rating on your podcast app. It really does help to get this information to other people. If you need more Ministry of Hemp, you can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, we’re everywhere on social media at ministryofhemp\ministryofhemp, and we’re always publishing amazing stories over at ministryofhemp.com. Like a story about hemp masks that are offering sustainable personal safety during the COVID-19 crisis.
Now, I know we’re trying to return to work and return to life and whatnot, but you still need to wear a mask. If you want to do so and make a statement and do it sustainably, why not wear a mask made of hemp fabric. There’s also a great post about how to maintain focus while working at home without guzzling gallons of coffee, which is something I am very guilty of.
At the Ministry of Hemp, we believe that an accessible world is a better world for everyone. So, we will have a full written transcript of this show in the show notes for this episode. Before I end the show with my usual sign off, I want to say that the Ministry of Hemp and myself stand with Black Lives Matter and stand with the protestors and support everyone that is out there right now fighting the good fight, but please, please take care of yourself. COVID-19 is still very much a reality. So, please wear a mask, wash your hands, take care of yourself, take care of others and make good decisions, will you? This is Matt Baum with the Ministry of Hemp podcast signing off.

The post Texas Hemp Stories: Will New Regulations Endanger Texas Hemp? appeared first on Ministry of Hemp.

Reports of Figi’s death first appeared online on April 7. According to a Facebook post by the family, Figi died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest after an extremely severe seizure, likely brought on by illness. Her entire family were sick with a severe illness resembling COVID-19 for a month prior.

Figi suffered from Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe form of epilepsy that begins in the first year of life. People with Dravet syndrome suffer frequent, intense, prolonged seizures and the condition resists conventional forms of epilepsy treatment. Remarkably, cannabidiol, a natural compound found in cannabis that’s better known as CBD, brought relief from the hours-long seizures she often suffered, reducing their length and frequency.

In 2014, International Business Times called Charlotte Figi “the girl who is changing medical marijuana laws across America.” Through the lobbying efforts of the Figi family, Charlotte became the figurehead of a nationwide movement. Soon, lawmakers changed cannabis laws, allowing thousands of children and others with severe, untreatable epilepsy to access CBD. She helped lead the way to nationwide legalization of hemp in 2018.

A low-THC, high CBD strain of hemp called “Charlotte’s Web,” one of the first strains bred for this purpose, is named for Figi. Charlotte’s Web, the largest CBD supplement brand in the industry, also bears her name.

CBD pioneer dies amid growing COVID-19 pandemic in U.S.

Reports of Charlotte Figi’s death first appeared on April 7 in a Facebook post made by a friend of the family. 

“Charlotte is no longer suffering,” the post reads, “She is seizure free forever.”

As of this time, the post has been shared over 7,500 times.

“Charlotte was ten feet tall and carried the world on her shoulders.”

Memorial email from Charlotte’s Web CBD brand staff

KRDO, a local news station from Colorado, where Figi lived, reported that Charlotte died from COVID-19. However, an update posted by Charlotte’s mother Paige, corrected the record somewhat. Although Charlotte did not test positive for COVID-19, doctors treated her as a COVID-19 patient due to her symptoms and the timing of her illness. The test for the COVID-19 virus may be inaccurate in as many as 30% of cases.

People with epilepsy are not considered “immunocompromised” or otherwise extra vulnerable to infection by the COVID-19 virus. Even though many of the worst victims are much older, everyone is vulnerable to this pandemic, regardless of age. KRDO reported 179 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Colorado so far.

On April 8, USA Today reported 404,352 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. Nationwide, COVID-19 has killed at least 13,829 so far. Many other reports suggest these figures could be far too low. There is currently no cure or vaccine.

Charlotte Figi stood ‘ten feet tall’: Young girl inspired thousands 

Charlotte Figi was one of the most visible of several young children whose examples helped change cannabis laws. Even the most conservative lawmaker finds it difficult to ignore a suffering child.

Beyond state legislatures, Figi inspired thousands to investigate the potential of cannabis to heal. Numerous studies show CBD and other cannabinoids can relieve symptoms of epilepsy in children. Dravet syndrome can be fatal and Figi required frequent hospitalizations due to her intense seizures. In June 2018, the Food and Drug Administration approved Epidiolex, a prescription-only CBD-based treatment for severe epilepsy. This was the first time the FDA acknowledged the medical benefit of cannabis. We see it as another part of Charlotte’s legacy.

“Charlotte was ten feet tall and carried the world on her shoulders,” wrote the staff of the Charlotte’s Web CBD brand, in a memorial email sent on Tuesday. The email continued:

“Inspiring is a lacking word, as are courageous and vivacious and strong and beautiful. … She grew, cultivated by a community, protected by love, demanding that the world witness her suffering so that they might find a solution. … Charlotte, then, became everyone’s daughter or sister or friend and enlivened empathy and love from anyone who had the privilege of hearing her story, as millions did. Her story built communities, her need built hope, and her legacy will continue to build harmony.”

All of us at Ministry of Hemp mourn Charlotte’s Figi’s death. Our thoughts are with her surviving family and friends. It is deeply tragic that, after finding relief from Dravet syndrome, Figi died at such a young age. We believe her legacy will continue to grow, as more people hear her story and discover the ways CBD and hemp can heal.

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