LEXINGTON, Ky. - Researchers involved in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s industrial hemp program already know hemp is different than marijuana.
Hemp barely has any THC, the chemical in marijuana that makes smokers high.
THC levels for hemp are typically less than 1%.
THC levels for marijuana range from 5% to 10%, and beyond, all according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
Despite clear differences in use, hemp has been as illegal as marijuana since 1970.
“The reason it’s been so long is because marijuana is illegal,” says Dr. David Williams, a researcher at the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture. “And if you look, you can’t tell the difference between the two by sight.”
The similarity was an issue in the spring, when the Drug Enforcement Agency seized 250 pounds of hemp seeds destined for the fields of Kentucky, because they were still classified as a controlled substance.
The seeds were eventually released and delivered, although the confusion over new laws and regulations continues.
After new regulations passed by the federal and state governments, American hemp has a chance to be put into commerce as it was in the 1940s, when it was a successful crop in central Kentucky.
Dr. David Williams, in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, started a small research plot where the seeds, planted six weeks ago, have sprouted into plants that are now five feet tall.
“At the end of the growing season, we’ll measure the yield of both fiber and seed, and have an idea of the adaptability of those 13 varieties to our climate and latitude,” says Williams.
Research and debate may last years before a functioning hemp industry could help people and communities devastated by sudden turns in industry and the economy.
The fuzzy timeframe does not do much for Kentucky counties affected by the decline of other industries.
Floyd County, home to once-busy railroad and coal towns like Wheelwright and Garrett, has struggled with sudden changes in those industries.
“Coal severance money has been cut like any other county, tremendously,” said Magistrate Hattie Owens at a Floyd County Fiscal Court meeting in January. “We’ve got a lot of cuts we’ve got to come up with in order to make the budgets, and it’s hard to do.”
In other economies around the world, hemp has proven to be useful and lucrative.
Fibers from the stalk of the hemp plant are used to make fabric, carpet and even interior car panels.
Hemp oil, derived from the seeds, can be found in makeup, lotion, nutritional supplements, food, and pharmaceuticals.
Despite its prolific use elsewhere for decades, American hemp production and research is in its infancy, according to researchers and officials with the Department of Agriculture.
The Department of Agriculture’s points out on its website that America is the only industrialized nation that does not allow industrial hemp production.
The truth about hemp and marijuana
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