Illinois Senate Unanimously Votes to Establish Hemp Research Pilot Program
Illinois’s full Senate has voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 5085, a proposal to establish a hemp research
pilot program. The measure has already been approved by the state’s House of Representatives, though it will go back for one final vote before heading to the governor given some amendments were approved (none that change the intent of the bill).
Under the proposed law, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and state higher education institutions would be authorized to cultivate hemp – defined as having 1% or less THC – for research purposes.
If approved, all activity conducted in accordance to the measure would be legal under federal law, given the government recently passed a farming bill which allows for the cultivation of hemp in states that have legalized it for research.
TheJointBlog