Smokable Hemp Debate Rages on in North Carolina Legislature

The subject of smokable hemp continues to be divisive in the North Carolina legislature as industry advocates clash with law enforcement agencies regarding when or even whether to ban the latest cash crop creating a lot of consumer interest not just in the U.S. but around the world as well.

The stalemate between the two sides resulted in some kind of compromise being agreed by both sides of the debate on Tuesday. Currently, smokable hemp is legal but both parties have agreed to have it banned on May 1 next year.

Before the ban is effected, the law enforcement agencies of the state will be expected to search for a way or ways to test for THC in the field so that legal hemp can be distinguished from its illegal cousin marijuana.

Coming up with a way to conduct field tests isn’t the only challenge facing law enforcement. At stake is the matter of probable cause since marijuana’s smell is identical to that of hemp. It may therefore be harder to establish probable cause if one substance is legal and the other is illegal.

The law enforcement agencies even think that keeping hemp legal effectively makes marijuana legal since the police will be unable to have justifiable grounds to conduct searches that have resulted in big busts of illegal drugs.

Their concerns my not altogether be farfetched, because law enforcement in a few other states has already run into difficulties with the legalization of hemp. Texas, for example, has seen many district attorneys drop or postpone the prosecution of hundreds of marijuana possession cases because of the difficulty of telling marijuana apart from hemp in the absence of sophisticated testing equipment.

The sheriff’s association also says that if smokable hemp remains legal, then more than 800 police sniffer dogs will have no use since, as already mentioned, the smell of marijuana doesn’t differ from that of hemp.

Law enforcement challenges aside, smokable hemp has carved out a place for itself as a major cash cow for the business community. This was widely unexpected when hemp was initially legalized, but the growth of the popularity of this form of CBD delivery has created an unintended consequence of putting the entire industry in jeopardy since farmers say that most of their hemp is bought for sale as smokable bud.

For now, the bill still has to make its way through the full Assembly before it goes to the state Senate where the heated debate will continue.  Experts believe that the hemp industry, including industry players like Green Hygienics Holding Inc. (OTCQB: GRYN) and Hemptown USA, must be wondering why North Carolina doesn’t look at how other states have handled the issue of smokable hemp in order to devise a lasting solution to the matter.

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