Two Missouri Committees Approve Measure to Legalize Hemp
Legislation to legalize industrial hemp in Missouri has been given overwhelming approval by two House committees.
House Bill 2034, filed by Representative Paul Curtman (R), was approved last week by the Standing Committee on Agriculture Policy with a vote of 10 to 1. Today, the bill was passed by the Rules- Legislative Oversight Committee by an 8 to 1 vote. The proposal will now be up for a vote by the full House of Representatives, where passage would place it before the state’s Senate.
According to its official summary, “This bill exempts industrial hemp, which is defined as Cannabis sativa L. containing no greater than 0.3% THC, from the definition of marijuana and the list of controlled substances. In addition, it is legal for any person who has received an industrial hemp license to grow, harvest, cultivate, and process industrial hemp.”
The bill “creates an industrial hemp agricultural pilot program to be implemented by the Department of Agriculture and specifies the requirements for an applicant of an industrial hemp registration and agricultural hemp seed production permit”,and states that “The department must issue a license or permit to an applicant who meets the statutory requirements and upon satisfactory completion of a fingerprint criminal history background check. Upon issuance of a license or permit, information regarding all license and permit holders must be forwarded to the State Highway Patrol.”
An industrial hemp license or agricultural hemp seed production permit would be “nontransferable except to a spouse or child who otherwise meets the requirements for a license or permit; is valid for a three-year term unless revoked by the department; and may be renewed as determined by the department.”
More information on House Bill 2034, including a link to its full text, can
Lynn Kempen
A production permit, fingerprinting and a criminal background check, to be able to grow a non-toxic, most utilitarian plant, that the US Dept. of Agriculture had a publicity campaign encouraging farmers to grow to help “win the war” during WWII; how utterly absurd.
There is no valid reason this utterly non-toxic plant is being kept from the people. It is readily proven that cannabis prohibition is based on lies and propaganda. It’s continuation (lack of the Legislature rescinding the inane Controlled Substances Act, or at least removing cannabis from its idiocy) is tantamount to racketeering, as the legislature is clearly representing corporate interests rather than the welfare of the people. The government has no just reason to regulate this plant any more than it regulates the tomato.