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Monday, February 24, 2020

New federal hemp regulations would make it harder for farmers to prove their plants aren't marijuana

"New federal regulations would make it harder for hemp growers to prove their plants are not marijuana, in what could be a major setback to a promising industry legalized just two years ago, farmers and state officials say," Sophie Quinton and April Simpson report for Stateline.

When the 2014 Farm Bill legalized pilot programs for hemp production, each state set its own hemp testing standards to ensure that the crops contained less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient that legally distinguishes hemp from marijuana. Nationwide hemp cultivation was approved in the 2018 Farm Bill, but the measure included little direction for federal or state regulation and regulators have been playing catchup since then, Quinton and Simpson report.

In October the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled federal THC testing standards that are more rigorous and with a shorter time frame than those used in many states' pilot programs. "It also gives farmers less wiggle room to salvage crops that grow hot, or above the 0.3% THC mark," Quinton and Simpson write. "Now states are scrambling to adapt, and farmers are worrying they’ll face a higher risk of having to destroy crops that test 'hot' as marijuana."

Several state agriculture officials told Stateline that more crops could test hot under the proposed rule. "In Maine, for instance, none of the more than 2,000 acres tested last year were considered hot. But under the USDA’s more stringent testing standards, more than a fourth of the crop would have failed, according to State Horticulturalist Gary Fish," Quinton and Simpson report.

An interim USDA rule goes into effect Nov. 1, but the final rule may not be issued until after the 2021 growing season, which gives state officials more time to lobby for a change. In the meantime, states like Kentucky and Vermont that had pilot programs can extend those programs (and their testing standards) through this growing season. But at least 30 states will have to adapt their rules to match the stricter USDA standards right away, Quinton and Simpson report.

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