Idaho Legislature to Consider Another Hemp Legalization Bill This Year

Hemp is finally starting to shake off the effects of decades of prohibition, and more and more states and territories are working on measures to legalize the crop. Some states like Idaho that have had a negative reception towards cannabis legalization might join the ranks of states that allow cannabis use within their borders. The measure by Rep. Dorothy Moon will be her fourth effort after the first three failed in the state legislature.

First off, let’s make the distinction between hemp and marijuana. Both are varieties of cannabis, but what differentiates them is their THC levels. THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) is the compound that gives marijuana users a psychoactive ‘high’. According to the 2018 Farm Bill, cannabis with less than 0.3% THC content is classified as legal industrial hemp.

Moon has made it clear that she plans to introduce legislation in the upcoming session to remove hemp from the state’s list of Schedule 1 substances. Her same effort from last year dubbed the ‘House Bill 122’, was criticized by the police and prosecutors, concerned that it would be hard for law enforcement to differentiate between hemp and marijuana.

Although Moon’s central topic was supposed to be health, she found herself being asked about hemp and CBD oil, a hemp extract, by her constituents during public meetings. CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of the over 100 cannabinoids in hemp, and it is a potent natural medicine.

Last year, CBD gummies were the third most searched for food by Americans, and experts posit that the CBD industry will be worth $20 billion by 2024.

According to Moon, the measure she introduced last year to legalize hemp was met with 85% approval in the State’s House of Representatives. When the Bill got to the Senate, however, lawmakers cut language that would have removed hemp from the Schedule 1 substances list. She and 25 other supporters, therefore, withdrew their support for the bill, seeing it as a watered-down version of what they really wanted.

Grant Loeb, Twin Falls Prosecutor and chairman of the media committee for the Idaho Prosecuting Attorney’s Association, says that the association isn’t opposed to hemp legalization if it’s handled legitimately and complies with all necessary regulations.

“In the last legislature, we worked very hard, through many meetings, and came up with many detailed ideas about how to make growing and selling hemp legal in Idaho. Our concern was not to stop legitimate farmers from growing hemp, but to make sure that no hemp bill became just an under the table marijuana bill,” he says.

He adds that the legislature just can’t remove hemp from its controlled substances list without any other extra measures. “If that’s all you do, that just makes it impossible for us to deal with the problem that marijuana and hemp are virtually identical. The only difference is the percentage of THC.”

Experts think that the entire hemp industry, including sector players like LiveWire Ergogenics Inc. (OTC: LVVV) and Neutra Corp. (OTC: NTRR), are keeping their fingers crossed to see how this conservative state handles the hemp legalization bill this time round.

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