in the box of highlighted text - it's a really interesting look at how politics gets played out via legislation.
...but the big question in this is - how will the federal legal entities deal with the reality that hemp is still a schedule one substance - and entirely illegal to grow?
The DEA defined "legal" hemp - legal hemp products, really, since it has not been legal to grow hemp for decades... anyway, a legal hemp product is anything that does not enter the body.
But HEMP, the plant, is still illegal in the U.S. because it is cannabis.
I don't know if this has been amended since it was initially put in place, but in Oct. 2001, the DEA clarified what constituted a legal hemp product.
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html
DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson stated that “many Americans do not know that hemp and marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that hemp cannot be produced without producing marijuana.”
(btw, this is a BALD-FACED LIE that was told with impunity since hemp production is geared toward seeds with low THC and has been for decades.)
While most of the THC in cannabis plants is concentrated in the marijuana, all parts of the plant, including hemp, have been found to contain THC. The existence of THC in hemp is significant because THC, like marijuana, is a schedule I controlled substance. Federal law prohibits human consumption and possession of schedule I controlled substances. In addition, they are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for medical use.
The rules that DEA is publishing today explain which hemp products are legal and which are not. This will depend on whether the product causes THC to enter the human body. If the product does cause THC to enter the human body, it is an illegal substance that may not be manufactured, sold, or consumed in the United States. Such products include “hemp” foods and beverages that contain THC.
The DEA makes no distinction between recreational marijuana and hemp. So, Kentucky's law cannot go it effect unless the status of hemp changes as an illegal product.
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