Smokable hemp demand grows
CLIMAX, N.C. — North Carolina is the latest state considering a ban on smokable hemp, a product that’s exploding along with the health craze surrounding a compound in the plant known as CBD.
Besides federal regulations laid out in the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, the Food and Drug Administration has no additional regulations on smokable hemp, leaving states to figure out how to govern it themselves.
This year, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas banned smokable hemp entirely, while Kansas banned products including hemp cigarettes and cigars. Tennessee prohibited smokable hemp sales to minors.
North Carolina’s House is considering a smokable hemp ban after it recently passed the state Senate.
The legislation focuses primarily on expanding the state’s pilot hemp growing program, which has more than 1,000 licensed hemp growers and 600 registered hemp processors, to position it as a leader in the burgeoning industry. The bill would place more regulations on hemp but also create a hemp licensing commission and establish a fund for regulation, testing and marketing.
North Carolina law enforcement wants the ban, saying officers have no way of distinguishing smokable hemp from marijuana.
Hemp and marijuana are both cannabis plants. Dried, smokable hemp looks and smells the same as marijuana but contains less than 0.3% of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the compound that gives marijuana its high. Hemp has cannabidiol, or CBD, which many believe helps with pain, anxiety and inflammation, though there’s limited scientific research to support those claims. It’s turning up in products ranging from lotions and cosmetics to diet pills and juices.
The proposed ban would impose a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for anyone who manufactures, sells or possesses smokable hemp.
But scores of farmers in the traditional tobacco state have told lawmakers a ban would hurt them as many deal with hurricane damage and decreased tobacco prices.
Three years ago, Shane Whitaker grew 275 acres of tobacco on his farm in Climax. This year, the second-generation tobacco farmer planted only 75 acres of his former cash crop and decided to grow hemp.
“We’re hoping for a lot of this hemp to replace tobacco,” he said. “I’m not for taking part of it off the market.”
So far, he said that hemp has been a good source of revenue to keep his farm running.
Second-year hemp farmer Lori Lacy, who has invested more than $190,000 on her 13-acre Franklin hemp farm, said she can make $1,000 for a pound of smokable hemp flower.