Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is partnering with Kentucky’s Agriculture Commissioner to introduce legislation that could significantly transform the agricultural landscape in the United States. On Monday, McConnell announced his plans to propose a bill in the US Senate to legalize industrial hemp. Mitch McConnell pitched the bill, which US Senators Ron Wyden (D-Or.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are co-sponsoring, during the US Hemp Roundtable in Frankfort.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Announces The Hemp Farming Act Of 2018
Amidst the looming threat of a federal crackdown on states with legal cannabis programs and the bombastic rhetoric of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, McConnell’s announcement comes as somewhat of a surprise from the staunchly conservative Senator.
Yet few may know Sen. McConnell has been an active proponent of legalizing hemp. In 2014, McConnell launched an industrial hemp pilot program in Kentucky.
So far, the program has authorized 12,000 acres for hemp cultivation. Additionally, after the pilot program’s first few years, Kentucky already has 57 hemp processing facilities.
Further, Kentucky’s hemp industry has thrived despite the federal prohibition on marijuana, which includes hemp. However, given the economic potential of legal hemp, McConnell argues that the time has come to legalize it.
“I think we’ve moved past that and most members of the Senate understand that these are two very different plants,” Sen. Mitch McConnell said in a statement.
And indeed, McConnell’s Hemp Farming Act of 2018 would change how the federal government classifies hemp, a genetic cousin of cannabis. The change would designate hemp an agricultural commodity, thereby lifting its Schedule I classification as a controlled substance.
Additionally, the Hemp Farming Act would let states set their own regulations for hemp production. Lifting