State Representative Willie Dove is looking to sponsor a bill in the forthcoming legislative session to legalize industrial hemp. Dove is a Bonner Springs Republican and is hosting meetings throughout Kansas to advocate for industrial hemp. Dove set up a meeting for Wednesday night at a library to speak on the legislation, but nobody appeared. According to Dove, it was a result of the cold and windy weather.
At the legislative meeting, Dove laid out hemp candy bars, soaps, as well as other snacks on a table at the library to give people a sense of all of the different features hemp can be used for. Earlier that day, Dove told interviewers that he believes the biggest concern with hemp is how closely it resembles marijuana. However, he pointed out that industrial hemp only has 0.3% THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, compared to much higher levels. House Bill 2329 would allow farmers to cultivate hemp and sell it.
“The first thing we have to do is legalize the plant,” said Dove. “This is tailor-made for droughts in Kansas (because they do not need much water to grow).”
The uses for hemp are very extensive; it can be used for food, rope, furniture, soap, cars, and many more items that people use every day. According to Dove, people who try to smoke industrial hemp to get high will only end up sick. He adds that $600 million worth of products that come from industrial hemp are made in China and imported to the United States to be sold. It would be much more beneficial if farmers were able to grow it domestically. Last year, Dove sponsored the bill which received support from 85% of the House, but it was attached to another unpopular bill.
“The opposition is pretty ignorant,” Dove said, highlighting that those who oppose the plant do not know how useful it can be.
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