New West Virginia Law Legalizes Commercial Hemp Farming Despite Federal Prohibition
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Yesterday, a West Virginia law went into effect that significantly expands the state’s hemp licensing program, opening the door for anybody in the state to produce or process industrial hemp for commercial purposes. The new law sets the foundation to end federal prohibition of hemp in effect in the Mountain State.
Del. Jeff Eldridge (D-Alum Creek) and Del. Jim Butler (R-Henderson) sponsored House Bill 2453 (HB2453). The legislation removes language in the previous hemp licensing program that restricted it to the Department of Agriculture and state institutions of higher learning. Under the new law, any person with a license will be able plant, grow, harvest, possess, process, sell, and buy industrial hemp.
The licensing program is “shall issue,” meaning the Department of Agriculture will be required to issue a license to any person meeting statutory requirements. Without this section, the department could deny applications for a myriad of reasons.
HB2453 passed the Senate 34-0. It passed the House by a 99-0 vote. With Gov. Justice’s signature, the law went into effect July 4.
“I think West Virginia is kind of in the center; we could have the industry move here to process hemp the plant itself and extract all of the derivatives from the plant you can,” Eldridge said in an interview.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported the limits of the current program due to its conformity with federal law has hindered the development of a hemp industry.
“But because of the strict requirements under the 2014 bill, growers are not able to sell their plants and cannot transport them across state lines to be turned into those usable products. That’s limited the ability to create a real hemp industry in the state.”
FEDERAL FARM BILL
Early in 2014, President Barack Obama signed a new farm bill into law, which included a provision allowing a handful of states to begin limited research programs growing hemp. The “hemp amendment”
…allows State Agriculture Departments, colleges and universities to grow hemp, defined as the non-drug oil-seed and fiber varieties of Cannabis, for academic or agricultural research purposes, but it applies only to states where industrial hemp farming is already legal under state law.
In short, current federal law authorizes the farming of hemp – by research institutions, or within state pilot programs, for research only. Farming for commercial purposes by individuals and businesses remains prohibited. HB2453 ignores federal prohibition and authorizes commercial farming and production anyway.
OTHER STATES
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