Colorado becomes first state in 56 years to have a legal, commercial hemp crop

Several states have been pushing legislation to have the first legal hemp crops, but one Colorado man is the first to do it, harvesting the nation's first commercial hemp crop in 56 years, Steve Raabe reports for The Denver Post. Hemp advocates say Ryan Loflin's 55-acre crop in southeastern Colorado's Baca County "is a landmark event that could one day lead to larger-scale domestic farming of hemp for industrial uses such as food additives, cosmetics and building materials." Loflin's crop is small, but Tom Murphy, national outreach coordinator for advocacy group Vote Hemp called it "quite significant symbolically." (Post photo by Aaron Ontiveroz: Loflin's hemp seeds) 

Even though Colorado's passage of Amendment 64, which is scheduled to take effect next year, paved the way for legal cultivation of hemp, Loflin planted his crop earlier this year, Raabe writes. "Loflin said some of his hemp seed will be pressed for oil and subsequently purchased by Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a major user of hemp oil." (Read more)