That\u2019s because Amendment 64 also legalized hemp, a crop that has many uses but won\u2019t get people high if it\u2019s grown properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve probably had more people stop me on the road in my area of the country asking me about hemp than anything in the last several years,\u201d said Rocky Mountain Farmers Union President Kent Peppler.<\/p>\n
Legislators on the House Agriculture Committee were just as interested Monday, and it\u2019s little wonder why.<\/p>\n
Hemp\u2019s strong fibers can be used for clothing as simple as a T-shirt or complex as a fireproof suit, witnesses said. Businessmen told the committee that they have built houses out of it.<\/p>\n
Adam Dunn, a marijuana entrepreneur who moved to Denver from Amsterdam, Netherlands, two years ago, dazzled legislators with his hemp jacket, which he said can stop a .357-caliber bullet. His company made its first bulletproof coat for the rapper Snoop Dogg, he said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, sponsored Senate Bill 241, which sets up state regulation of hemp growers in the Colorado Department of Agriculture. It passed the House panel 11-0 Monday.<\/p>\n
Coram said 75 people showed up to his town meeting at a Montrose John Deere dealership this year, wanting to hear more about hemp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may be on the cutting edge of a great agricultural crop for rural Colorado,\u201d Coram said. \u201cI think it\u2019s an opportunity for a new crop that has an old history.\u201d<\/p>\n
That history remains a problem today. Although the U.S. government encouraged farmers to grow hemp during World War II, it has been illegal for decades under federal law. Members of Congress are pushing a bill to remove hemp from the federal list of illegal drugs, Coram said.<\/p>\n
Even though hemp is now legal in Colorado, farmers are hesitant to grow the crop because they don\u2019t know if it will disqualify them for benefits from the federal farm bill, Peppler said. However, legislators are anticipating that Congress might soon legalize hemp cultivation. If it does, then the bill would turn over hemp regulation to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and end the state program.<\/p>\n
The legislative controversy over marijuana is nowhere to be found over hemp. The bill passed 34-1 in the Senate last week, and it has bipartisan backing in the House. Coram\u2019s fellow sponsor is House Agriculture Committee Chairman Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins.<\/p>\n
The bill has to go to the House Appropriations Committee, and it must clear the full House by May 8, when the yearly session ends.<\/p>\n
Coram said he is likely to ask for an amendment in the House that allows inspections to make sure farmers are not growing hemp with too much THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.<\/p>\n
Coram doesn\u2019t think there will be problems with farmers confusing hemp for marijuana \u2013 knowingly or not. The crops look different, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not an expert, but I can see the difference very easily,\u201d Coram said.<\/p>\n