HEMP HEMP HOORAY! CA legalizes Cultivation, but Is Fashion Ready to Embrace the Fiber? [View all]

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Courtesy of Jungmaven

HEMP SHIRT: Los Angeles–headquartered label Jungmaven makes hemp-blend garments such as this long-sleeve shirt.

After being celebrated as a wonder plant and reviled as a public danger, hemp could be on the cusp of mainstream acceptance with the passage of a new law in California.

Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed Senate Bill 566. It will allow California farmers to cultivate industrial hemp and to sell it to manufacturers, who will make it into a myriad of products ranging from soaps to foods, building materials and fashion. However, the law will not be implemented unless hemp cultivation is authorized by the federal government.

The bill’s co-authors, state Sens. Mark Leno (D–San Francisco) and Allan Monsoor (R–Costa Mesa), said SB 566 is something of a first step toward the legalization of hemp. While the sale of hemp products is legal in America, the cultivation of hemp is currently heavily restricted by the federal government.

If grown without approval from the feds, hemp growers might have to forfeit their property to the government or serve time in prison. However, the law is rarely enforced, said Patrick Goggin, a San Francisco–based lawyer and a board member of the hemp-advocacy group Vote Hemp.

With this passage of SB 566, Leno said it is only a matter of time before the feds give the cultivation of industrial hemp the green light. “It has great potential to revitalize family farms, create new jobs and stimulate the economy,” he said.

MORE HERE: http://www.apparelnews.net/news/2013/oct/31/california-legalizes-hemp-cultivation-fashion-read/