By Melissa Lake
For the first time in nearly 80 years, industrial hemp may actually take root in the U.S. as a farm commodity.
On Feb. 11, the Oregon Department of Agriculture issued the state’s first industrial hemp grower’s license to Edgar Winters of Eagle Point (not to be confused with Edgar Winter, the Texas rock and blues musician). Although hemp production has technically been legal in Oregon since 2009, the state has been not had the rules in place to issue licenses until recently.
Those rules fell into place after February 2014 when President Barack Obama signed the Farm Bill of 2014. Section 7606 of the bill authorizes higher education institutions and state departments of agriculture to grow hemp for research in states — like Oregon — where growing hemp is legal. Earlier this year, Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 525) and Senate (S 134). Both bills seek to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. In short, under the bills, cannabis plants with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of 0.3% or less are considered hemp — not marijuana — and can be grown or processed for any reason in any states when hemp production is legal.
Hemp, according to Bend attorney Michael Hughes, was never meant to be defined as marijuana. After all, you can’t get high on hemp. While marijuana generally contains 5-30% THC, hemp plants contain 0.3% or less. In fact, Hughes said, strains with low THC often have higher concentrations of cannabidiol (CBD), which can reduce the psychoactive properties.
But the Federal 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, while not specifically intended to prohibit hemp production, effectively killed the crop, as growers were intimidated and/or threated by the Drug Enforcement Agency, Hughes said. Industrial hemp became illegal under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, despite the fact that it has none of the psychoactive properties attributed to marijuana, although it does have minute traces of THC.
“It’s been a long road for hemp to get its roots back into the soil here in the United States,” said Hughes, who still owns the Nebraska farm where his grandfather grew hemp. “Kentucky and Vermont were able to grow hemp last year, and it looks like Oregon will be able to have a crop this year.”
That’s good news for entrepreneurs like Ben Christensen, from Oregon City. Christiansen is the owner/hempsmith of Oregon Hemp Works, and works with a California wholesaler to get hemp oil imported for his soaps and other skin-care products. None of the products used in Oregon Hemp Works’ signature Oregon Hemp Soap are made with Oregon products — the castor oil, coconut oil and hemp it contains aren’t produced here. That’s something Christensen struggles with.
“I’m a native Oregonian, and I’m proud of that,” Christensen said. “I really want to be using locally-grown products.”
So, if hemp could be locally grown, it would be a natural fit, Christensen said.
“Of course, Canada has been producing hemp for years, so Oregon will have some catching up to do. But eventually, I could see the price of hemp improve. And, even better, I could buy hemp locally and work with Oregon farmers, keeping dollars here in Oregon, rather than sending them to a foreign country.”
But the fight for industrial hemp is far from over, said Anndrea Hermann, president of the Hemp Industries Association, a membership non-profit trade group that encourages research and development of products made from industrial hemp.
“It’s really important for people to reach out to their legislative leaders in support of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015,” said Hermann, a resident of Manitoba, Canada with a Master of Science in hemp fiber agronomy. Hermann is an Independent professional agrologist and researcher, and teaches an online class in industrial hemp at Oregon State University.
“Hemp was classified as marijuana, when in fact, it wasn’t,” she said. “There’s been a rebirth of production in Canada, Europe — the industry is working really well in other counties. Why shouldn’t we be doing this in the United States also?”
Traditionally used for rope and as fiber in clothing, interest in hemp as a health food, medication and fuel source has blossomed in the last five years, according to Hughes and Hermann.
“It’s ironic to me that there are so many world-class cannabis growers who are so interested in ditch weed from Nebraska,” said Hughes. He said he’s been breeding cannabis for more than 20 years, and is waiting for results from genetic tests on eight different phenotypes — including a high-growth strain that his family brought from Kentucky after the Civil War.
“There really is untapped potential for the cannabinoids in hemp plants. We know they don’t have much THC, but what other cannabinoids do they have? What ratios do they have? The science of the plant is really taking the forefront as we’re allowed to produce. How can we breed to produce strains with cannabinoids that may have medical benefits? Medical benefits are a whole world that has not really been explored with hemp.”
Research into hemp, like the plant itself, remained largely dormant for decades in the U.S. That’s changing, said Hermann, thanks to the advocacy work by Hemp Industries Association, which has sponsored events like Hemp History Week, which features events targeted at public education.
“We’re really starting to come into an age of discovery in terms of hemp production,” Hermann said. “The end products are really unbounded: Biofuel, biocomposits, animal feeds, medicine and functional foods. It’s great, after all this time, that the seed is being planted and (hemp) is starting to move forward.”
Christensen, who in addition to making soap, produces lotions, mud masks, massage oils and other skin care products, is quick to point out that hemp oil is also an excellent moisturizer.
“It has fantastic properties that penetrate the skin and facilitate absorption,” he said.
Hemp seed and hemp seed oil are showing up in stores — and not just stores dedicated to health foods.
“Places like Costco, Walmart and Walgreens are selling products with hemp,” Hermann said. “We’re reaching people who might not normally go into a natural products section. It’s not just a food product for vegetarians, foodies or tree huggers — it’s for everybody. It’s great to go into common stores and see brands like Nature’s Path that include hemp. Hemp is transitioning into becoming a more commonly-accepted product.”
Variety trials — which will help determine which hemp varieties grow best in which environments — need to be at the forefront of any additional research, Hermann said. Until varieties are proven to produce in specific environments, farmers may be reluctant to plant them.
“We can be activists until we’re blue in the face, but until the farmers come forward and get engaged in the conversation, we won’t have any kind off serious production,” she said.
Allowing farmers to produce hemp without mandatory ties to universities or agriculture departments are just as key, Hughes said. Support for both farm bills in critical.
“Hemp was never meant to be defined as marijuana,” Hughes said. “It will be nice when we finally pass a law saying that hemp is excluded from the definition of marijuana. Then we’ll be able to grow it just like we do any other commodity.”