McConnell promises follow-up legislation, if needed, to resolve regulatory headaches in booming hemp industry

Sen. Mitch McConnell wore jeans and argyles to the event.

"As hemp enters a new era as a legal agricultural commodity, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday he’s willing to offer follow-up legislation to resolve any 'glitches' stemming from mistaken identity between the crop and its lookalike, illicit cousin," Bruce Schreiner reports for The Associated Press.

McConnell, who led the push to legalize hemp nationwide in the 2018 Farm Bill, made the comment at a hemp forum in Louisville led by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. The event focused on development of federal regulations to implement the Farm Bill, Grace Schneider reports for the Louisville Courier Journal.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture still has not released regulations to give the cannabis industry order. In the meantime, the confusion is causing headaches for growers, shippers, inspectors and law enforcement, Schreiner reports. For example, "in January, as a shipment of 18,000 pounds of Kentucky industrial hemp made its way to Colorado for processing, police in Oklahoma arrested the rig drivers and two more men escorting them," Schneider reports.

Figuring out how to ship hemp without it being mistaken for marijuana is a "stumbling block," the CJ reports, since there is no quick way for law enforcement officers to take a sample of cannabis and measure how much tetrahydrocannabinol it contains. Cannabis with more than 0.3% THC is considered marijuana. "Agriculture Undersecretary Greg Ibach, who attended the hemp conference, said USDA has asked federal drug enforcement officials for a “coordinated effort” on interstate hemp shipment," AP reports.

There are other problems in the burgeoning industry: "Hemp growers, processors and investors also have been frustrated that banks won't loan money for crops, credit-card processors won't handle transactions for hemp products, such as soaps and chocolate, and that there's still no crop insurance program in place to help farmers," the CJ reports.