[author: Susan Ryan]
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, the big story is the impending demise of the hemp industry. In addition, the state of Nebraska is feuding with a tribe over cannabis. The Veterans Administration will not be able to prescribe medical marijuana to its patients. And finally, a librarian is involved in drug smuggling.
BY-BYE HEMP?
The nightmare of the federal government shutdown may be over, but for hemp, the bad dream is just beginning. Tucked into the bill re-opening the government and funding several government agencies is a provision to close the “hemp loophole” created by the 2018 Farm Bill.
“My 2018 hemp bill sought to create an agricultural hemp industry, not open the door to the sale of unregulated, intoxicating, lab-made, hemp-derived substances with no safety framework – Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Not everyone sees things this way, to say the least.
“Senator Mitch McConnell, architect of the 2018 Farm Bill, sowed the hemp seeds — and now seeks to scorch the soil, salting the fields of his own harvest – Thomas Winstanley, executive vice president and general manager of edibles at Edibles.com
The hemp industry has a year before the ban would go into effect, so all is not lost. Expect plenty of lobbying over the next 365 days. Lenders to affected companies, and borrowing affected companies, should check their loan documents to determine if the legislation will have any impact on hemp company loans.
NEBRASKA
As regular readers know, Nebraska’s medical marijuana industry has faced some serious headwinds. The Omaha Tribe, on the other hand, is setting up a dispensary on tribal land, and both the governor and the attorney general are less than delighted. The government insists that only tribal members are allowed to patronize the dispensary; the tribe maintains they can sell to whomever they wish. Further bulletins as events warrant.
VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
Lost in the hubbub about hemp is the fact that a provision allowing Veterans Administration doctors to prescribe medical marijuana in states where it is legal was stripped out of the final spending bill. Versions of this language have been proposed several times in the past, but none have made it into law. It’s a familiar story – advocates get cannabis language into a big bill, but it never makes it into the final version.
AND FINALLY
Whatever picture you may have in your mind when you think of a librarian, perhaps Shirley Jones in The Music Man, it probably doesn’t include someone smuggling synthetic marijuana into a jail. Well, guess what? In Dartmouth, Massachusetts, the Bristol County Jail’s librarian has been arrested as part of a drug smuggling ring.
Be well everyone – we’ll see you next week.
