Got hemp milk?

I seem to know instinctively when I’m not going to get something I’m asking for. This is native intuition that was honed when, as a child, I would ask for something I knew my parents would never give me. But that never stopped me from asking for that candy bar anyway.

I knew just as well what the answer would be when twice I sent our stalwart Member of Congress, Hal Rogers, e-mails asking him to co-sponsor the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011 (H R 1831), but I asked him anyway. 

I also know that Hal would never read this request. Well, according to the 2010 census, there are 673,670 of us here in District 5, and it wouldn’t take too many letters each day to require some help, so each time I ask Hal to do the honorable thing, his staff hit a button and sent out a form letter enumerating all the reasons Hal could never accept the use of a “variant of marijuana”.

Hal and many other Americans know it is illegal to grow hemp in the United States, lest some pothead get desperate and try to smoke this plant that contains less than 1% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). That “variant” of hemp, marijuana, can have as much as 15% THC. Hal does not seem to know that hemp can have an adverse effect on marijuana. Hemp can cross pollinate a pot plant, and that greatly reduces its potency.

But what Hal will not acknowledge is this: While it is illegal to grow industrial hemp in the U S, it is not illegal to use hemp in the manufacture of products we need on a daily basis. American manufacturers can import all the industrial hemp they need from those countries that allow their farmers to grow it. By obstinately refusing to think this thing over, all Hal, et al, are doing is ensuring Kentucky farmers will never benefit financially from what is one of the most versatile plants available while ensuring that French, Canadian and Chinese farmers will never face any competition from their American counterparts. 

One of the more than 22,000 products produced from industrial hemp is a variant (there’s that word again) of soy milk-hemp milk. Google hemp milk for details. Yes, this would be a positive boon for Kentucky farmers if they could grow the plant from which the seeds are obtained to produce this THC-free drink that is naturally rich in omega 3 and 6 fatty acids as well as essential nutrients and quality protein.

If you agree that American farmers-and specifically Kentucky farmers-deserve the chance to make money from products such as hemp milk, go to https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/allow-industrial-hemp-be-grown-us-once-again/V2gV7rWy . It is here you will be given a chance to sign a petition that has already met the requirements for being reviewed by President Obama. That threshold is 5000 signatures in 30 days. As of this writing, this petition has garnered 15,076.

At the same time, we cannot give up on Hal. I believe him to be reasonable. He has, in the past, taken money from tobacco interests. I’m sure if you asked him now, he would agree that this was a mistake, just as he would agree that hemp is a very beneficial plant that should be legalized for production if he looked into the matter more carefully