Marijuana News Article 201310

Colorado Hemp Industry Poised To Grow
With New Legal Status

Jan 14, 2013
Source:  Denver Post
Reporter:  Steve Raabe

Passage of Amendment 64 has given life to a group of zealous enthusiasts who can barely contain their passion for the leafy green substance.

No, not pot. The fanatics get their kicks from buzz-free hemp.

A genetic cousin to marijuana, hemp is a look-alike plant with one key difference.   It contains almost no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that makes users high.

But what hemp lacks in THC, it makes up for by being a remarkable workhorse of industrial utility.   From auto bodies to textile fibers to nutrition bars, even as a cleaner of toxic contamination, hemp struts its stuff.

Boosters say hemp is poised to become a big industry in Colorado because Amendment 64 allows its legal cultivation pending legislative authorization.

Lynda Parker's eyes light up, the all natural way, when she talks about it.

"My friends tell me I'm too evangelical," says the retired Dex saleswoman.   "But there's hardly a problem in the world that can't be solved with hemp."

She ticks off an abbreviated list, just a tantalizing hint, of the practical applications.

"Hemp is food, animal feed, fiber, fuel, shelter,"   she says.   "It cleans the air, the water, the soil.   Hemp could be enormous for Colorado because we're the first state to legalize it."

Hemp's most common uses are food products derived from seeds and seed oil.   Fiber from the stalks of hemp plants are used in clothing and industrial applications, including as a strengthening agent in concrete.

Parker is part of an early stage, loose knit coalition formed to raise hemp's profile.   Other members range from a medical-marijuana activist to a Ph.D. candidate at Colorado School of Mines.   Their common thread is a belief that hemp is going to be big, bigger, perhaps, than legal marijuana.

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy estimates that state sanctioned marijuana sales initially could be as much as $270 million a year, producing state and local taxes of $47 million a year.

Yet a mature hemp industry, from farm to factory to storefront, might be 10 times larger than legal marijuana, backers project.

Could anything possibly dampen the potential of this beneficial botanical?

Well, yes. The federal government for one.

Like marijuana, hemp is still illegal in the eyes of the feds, despite Colorado's clear electoral mandate to legalize it.

Federal officials have said little about how they will react to Colorado's new law.   Some analysts say it's unlikely they will target individual users, but the outlook is less certain for federal crackdowns on larger enterprises, such as farm scale growing.

Hemp backers say that would be an extreme injustice, given that hemp has no narcotic properties.   But federal law does not differentiate between the cultivation of hemp and marijuana.

Even in Colorado, the Amendment 64 implementation task force is unlikely to set up hemp regulations until next year because it has its hands full with the complexities of marijuana rule making.

Natural & Organic Beauty Care, Facial Care, Skin Care, Body Care

Test crop planned.   There are plenty of hemp products on the market, clothing, food, beverages, construction materials.   But because of the federal prohibition on growing, all hemp must come from imported sources.   Canada is the largest supplier to the U.S.

If Colorado were to establish a hemp farming industry, it would be limited by a federal ban on interstate transportation of the crop.   The harvested hemp would need to stay inside Colorado, where currently there are few major industrial customers.

That limitation does not deter Mike Bowman, a Yuma County farmer and alternative energy activist.   He plans to plant a test crop of 100 acres of hemp, possibly as early as this year, on land typically reserved for corn.

Hemp requires much less water than corn, Bowman notes, thus providing a potential solution to over pumped aquifers on the eastern plains.

In Canada, he said, hemp is a more profitable crop than wheat.   According to the Alberta provincial government, hemp seed production can yield up to $1,000 per acre.   Canadian wheat in 2012 yielded an average of $315 an acre.

But the threat of federal intervention in the U.S. and the misperception that equates hemp to marijuana are formidable hurdles.

"If hemp had a different name, it would be a lot easier,"   Bowman says.

Parker and other hemp proponents plan to visit eastern Colorado farm towns this week to talk up the potential.

Supplies of Colorado grown hemp would be welcome by Ari Sherman, president of Boulder based Evo Hemp.   In a small commercial kitchen, Sherman and his four associates make nutrition bars containing hemp seed, fruits and nuts.

The company imports several hundred pounds of seed each month from Canadian suppliers.

"The transportation costs are huge,"   Sherman says.   "It definitely would help us to have supplies from Colorado.   And to create a product where the majority of the ingredients are from Colorado would be great."

The 1 1/2 year old company distributes about 700 bars a week to small grocers.   It recently signed a deal to supply Whole Foods stores in the Rocky Mountain region and is talking with King Soopers parent Kroger Co.

There's money to be made in hemp, but that's not what drives industry proponent Parker.

"I'm a product of the '60s," she says.   "If we make some money, I won't reject it, but I do this out of my passion for hemp."

What Do You Have To Say About This?

Any special feelings, rebuttal or comments?

Enter Your Title

Click here to see the rest of the form and complete your submission.

"Forty million Americans smoked marijuana; the only ones who didn't like it
were Judge Ginsberg, Clarence Thomas and Bill Clinton." - Jay Leno quote on Marijuana

Enjoy This Site?
Add us to your favorites

Custom Search

Amazon Gift Cards
I Herb
Online Classes
Start Home Business
Daily Om
Radiation?
Radiation Detox
Coca Leaf Tea

Home

Cannabis Books

Cannabis Cookbooks
Cannabis History
Growing Cannabis
EBook How To Grow Weed

Cannabis Types

Cannabis Strains
    Autoflowering Cannabis
    Cannabis Indica
    Cannabis Sativa
    Cannabis Hybrids
    Cannabis Feminized

Cooking With Ganja

Cannabis Pantry
Cooking With Marijuana
    Cannabis Cook books
    Cannabis Edibles DIY
    Chocolate Book Store
    Chocolate Making Tools
    Chocolate Molds
    Chocolate Planet
Marijuana Recipes

Did You Know?

Homegrown

Cannabis Growing
Grow Elite Marijuana

How To

Make Cannabis Coconut Oil
Make Marijuana Butter
Make Marijuana Oil
Make Marijuana Tea
Make Yerba Mate Drinks

Legal Stuff

Cannabis Legal States
Self Help How To Win In Court
Washington Marijuana Laws

Marijuana News

Bad Marijuana News
Good Marijuana News
Submit Marijuana Articles

Marijuana Testimonials

Your Story

Marijuana Tourism

Cannabis Cup
Cannabis Cup Colorado
Cannabis Eco Lodge
Cannabis Friendly Countries
Pot Friendly
Wilderness Courses

Medical Marijuana

Medical Cannabis Seeds

Shopping

Amsterdam Marijuana Seeds
Bongs & Waterpipes
Bulk Raw Foods
Cannabis Cook books
Cannabis Edibles DIY
Cannabis Indica Seeds
Cannabis Sativa Seeds
Chakras
Cheap Vaporizer
Chocolate Book Store
Chocolate Making Tools
Chocolate Molds
Chocolate Planet
Color Therapy
Cool Gizmos
Dr Mercola's Herbs
Dutch Seeds
Earth Mama Angel Baby
Extraction Systems
Gift Csrd
Got Vaporizers
Grass City
Growing Tools
Hemp Food
Hemp World
Herbal Vaporizers
Herb Grinders
Hot RAWKS!
How To Grow Weed
I Herb
Inhalater Portable Vaporizer
Lazy Ass Stoner
Legal Highs
Magnetic Therapy
Marijuana Millionaire
Medical Cannabis Seeds
Nirvana Shop
Organic Nuts
Pot Shirts
Raw Protein Powders
Reefer Madness
Rolling Papers
Smoking Accessories
Stress Management
Vape World
Wilderness Courses
Women and Chocolate
Vendor List
Yerba Mate

About This Site

Free E-card
Contact Me

GoodSearch | GoodShop

Raise money for Happy Tails Rescue Association
just by searching the web and shopping online!

What if Happy Tails Rescue earned a penny every time you searched the Internet?  Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made with 2,400 top stores online went to support this worthy cause?  Well, now it can!

   GoodSearch.com   is a fast growing Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate.

Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, without the built in biases of other search engines and watch how the donations really add up!

  GoodShop.com   also offers a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause!  Thousands of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting your favorite cause.

Since it doesn't cost you anything and you get proven search results, there's no reason not to use it!

We hope you'll not only use GoodSearch as your main search engine from now on, but will also tell your friends, family and co-workers so they, too, can start using GoodSearch to support their favorite cause!   Every little bit really does add up and can make a big difference for Happy Tails Rescue and the animals it supports.  Why wouldn't you do it?

Special thanks to: Law of attraction coach, Law of attraction, the law of attraction

Return to top

Under the current FDA laws in the united States, it is illegal to make any medical claims for any health supplement or any other natural product.  Remember cultivation of Marijuana, use of Medical Marijuana, importation of marijuana seeds with the intention of growing Marijuana or using it is illegal in some countries and many states.  While Marijuana seeds, and other items associated with the use of Marijuana, are sold as souvenirs and shipped to any country in the world, your importation of the seeds could be considered a criminal offense for which there could be severe criminal consequences.  Check laws within your own country.

Medical Marijuana has been legal in numerous states within the united States for many years and recreational use of Marijuana is now legal in Washington and Colorado, since winning by initiative November 6, 2012.  The federal government of the united States still considers Marijuana a controlled substance and illegal in all states.  Laws change continuously and our intention is to stay abreast of all appropriate laws and provide a compilation of information for novelty purposes only, we do not intend to persuade, induce, intimate or condone anyone breaking any laws, nor does this information pertain to any other substance than Marijuana.

All information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to make any legal or medical claims, diagnose, treat, cure, prevent or mitigate any physical or mental condition, nor to prescribe any substance.  This site provides helpful information and is supported by compensation from quality advertisers and affiliate relationships.  This website is for educational purposes only, scientific or medical research and fun.  Cannabis is legal in about 30 countries.

//-->

Marijuana Tourism Information

Colorado Hemp Industry Poised To Grow With New Legal Status

What Do You Have To Say About This?

Colorado Hemp Industry Poised To Grow
With New Legal Status