Everybody is talking about hemp. When we recently attended a family gathering in Vermont we talked to three of my young cousins, Heidi, Tammy and Debby, who had planted hemp. A change in the Vermont laws now makes it legal to plant hemp. Four-hundred-fifty or so farms are now doing just that. Dairy farming is not as profitable as it was, and hemp is now in demand. Please remember, industrial hemp does not contain THC, the compound in marijuana that makes you get high.

My cousins got their start with a friend who gave them about 1,900 baby cannabis plants in the spring. They had rototilled one and a half fertile acres of the old family farm. Then they set to planting in early May. There had been rain and their soil had good drainage.

The plants were very tiny with a tiny root base. They said each of them used a teaspoon for putting them in the ground. My cousins have day jobs and so it took three weekends to get them all planted, carefully providing at least six feet of space between each plant, which can reach a height of eight feet.

There is more to raising hemp than getting tiny plants in the ground. At some point, the hemp plants will decide if they want to be male or female. They have no gender when the seeds sprout unless they have been feminized. My cousins did invest in paying for enough femininized hemp to fill two rows.

I got in touch with Heather Darby, a professor at the University of Vermont, and she explained feminizing.

“Young plants are sprayed with colloidal silver, and this triggers them to produce ‘male flowers’ that only produce female pollen. Hence, if this crosses with the female flowers you should end up with female seeds,” she said in an email. 

Professor Darby said she did not know of any Vermont production companies that treated hemp for anything other than CBD oil. 

My cousins did know it is only the female buds that can make CBD oil, which has medicinal uses. All male buds have to be removed. If the male buds are allowed to open and spread their pollen, the male pollen will infect all the females and ruin them — no CBD oil.

This is a real learning experience for them — and many others in Vermont and other states.

Last week, I was on my way through Buckland to Goshen and was stunned to see three big fields of hemp plants.

I used to buy great corn from a farm on Route 112. While corn is still available, two fields on either side of the farmhouse, and a third field surrounding the Wilder Homestead are filled with industrial hemp plants. This is a much more serious operation than my cousins have. It is an indication of the increasing interest in hemp.

For myself, I am interested in hemp being grown for more reasons than CBD oil. It is the fibers of the plant that can be used in many ways, for textiles, paper, insulation, biodegradable plastics and bio-fuel, to name a few uses. Forbes Magazine said 25,000 products can be made from hemp.

Industrial hemp has an environmental benefit, in that it can be grown in every state of our nation. In addition, last December, President Donald Trump signed a bill that removes hemp from the controlled substances list and redefines it as an agricultural product.

Cotton requires southern weather, more water, more fertilizer and pesticides per acre than hemp. Hemp requires much less water, grows very quickly and uses minimal soil nutrients. Hemp roots aerate the soil, leaving it rich for future crops. It can produce 1,500 pounds of fiber per acre, whereas cotton will only produce 500 pounds per acre.

Since growing marijuana and industrial hemp has been illegal since 1937, there is a lag in how quickly production machines can be put in place. This is particularly true for hemp because people have forgotten its advantages. However, change is coming.

Carl Lehrburg of PureHemp Technology in Fort Lupton, Colo., said “Most of the hemp plant is underutilized and wasted today in the U.S.”

His company is developing traditional hemp stalk processing equipment that separates long and short fibers from the tough stem for processing into pulp, sugars and lignins, a process called “decorticating.” Processing hemp in the CCR (countercurrent reactor) results in the production of pulp as one product and the extract liquor is further refined into lignin and sugar co-products. I like to think his company is only one among many.

Hemp fiber can be a little scratchy but it is often used with other fibers like cotton. Some companies like Patagonia are using hemp with other fibers like cotton and polyester.  Levi Strauss and Co., has a new line of Outerknown clothing made of what they call ‘cottonized’ hemp, another combination of hemp and cotton.

Hemp has only been legal for a couple of years, but already there are 115 licensed growers and processors in Massachusetts. I can almost see the hemp clothes I want.

Pat Leuchtman has been writing and gardening in Heath at End of the Road Farm since 1980. She now lives in Greenfield. Readers can leave comments at her website: commonweeder.com

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has jumped in with other politicians to demand a quickly-enacted ban on flavored tobacco vaping products. His Sunday announcement came in the midst of a little-understood string of vaping-related deaths by severe lung disease, despite the fact that some of the dead were known to have smoked cannabis products.

It would appear that the health crisis is dovetailing with concerns about the growing number of teen vapers to cause politicians to take a stand. Cuomo’s words follow those of the First Couple. After Melania Trump tweeted her concern over the “growing epidemic” of teen vaping last Monday, the president followed up on Wednesday with a press conference with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Flavored vapes would be subject to much more stringent regulatory requirements.

“We can’t have our kids be so affected,” Trump said. “That’s how the First Lady got involved. She’s got a son […] a beautiful young man, and she feels very, very strongly.” Barron Trump, who is also the president’s son, is 13 years old.

Cuomo’s concern was hardly limited to young people. “Vaping is dangerous,” he announced. “Period. No one can say long-term use of vaping — where you’re inhaling steam and chemicals deep into your lungs — is healthy.”

The governor’s solution? That an emergency regulation banning flavored e-cigarettes immediately be issued by New York’s Public Health and Health Planning Council.

New York state would not be the first US jurisdiction to take such a step. San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban the sale of all e-cigarettes back in June. The city is home to leading vape company Juul’s world corporate headquarters, and the company has launched a ballot measure campaign to defeat the ban that could end up being the most expensive ballot measure drive the city has ever seen. This month, the state of Michigan also prohibited flavored e-cigs.

Such legislation may have more momentum in the midst of the vaping health crisis, which many have pegged to the use of thickening agents like Vitamin E acetate by largely unlicensed vape dealers. But it is unlikely to halt the six-death string of fatalities given that many of the deceased were known to have been vaping cannabis products.

But politicians are correct in their assertions that young people are turning more and more to vaping products. Studies show that many teens prefer to consume drugs by vaping. Vape products have the additional bonus of being easy to smoke in a covert manner, without leaving its consumers stinking like tobacco—good for kids looking to consume their marijuana or tobacco on the sly.

Cuomo did offer one caveat to his proposed ban—menthol flavor products would not be affected by the prohibition. He said that’s because menthol products help people to stop smoking regular cigarettes. Ironically, that’s what certain vape product advocates say about the class of inhalants regardless of selected flavor.

That logic didn’t fly with Harold Wimmer, president of the American Lung Association. “While today’s announcement was well-intentioned, it will drive our youth to use menthol-flavored products in even greater numbers,” he told the New York Times.

A new study found that high taxes and cost of compliance keeps many small-time players within the black market in legalized states.

If you believe Donald Trump, you’d believe that all vaping is created equal. “People are dying with vaping,” he said in explanation of his administration’s decision to flavored e-cigarettes. “A lot of people think vaping is wonderful, it’s great. It’s really not wonderful.”

But in light of America’s vaping crisis, we know that isn’t true. The vaping illness that infects lungs should be separated into two different categories: the one caused by those flavored e-cigarettes, and the vaporizers that involve marijuana.

We know that the disease caused by marijuana vape cartridges is largely fueled by the black market. Brands found on the black market like Dank Vapes and Chronic Carts include vitamin E acetate, a substance that shouldn’t be smoked into the lungs, scientists explained, and could be behind the deadly illness. But in an era where more people theoretically have access to legal cannabis—which is regulated and monitored by states—why does the black market remain so potent? Furthermore, how is there still black markets in states with legal weed?

A new Portland State University exploratory study might have an answer. By examining data following legalization in Colorado and Washington, the paper showcases that excessive regulations by state markets could be driving consumers and producers alike to remain in the shadows.

“The qualitative analysis of news reports reveals that regulation is one of the main reasons that people stay in the illicit market,” reads the paper. “The comparison of marijuana crime trends in Colorado and Washington shows mixed findings. While marijuana offense rates in Colorado largely remained steady over the years, those in Washington increased dramatically after the implementation of more intensive regulations.”

Graduate student of criminology and criminal justice department Sikang Song is behind the research, as he presented the paper as his master’s thesis. Song pursued the issue, as he wanted to understand why illicit markets continue despite legalization, which many have argued would eliminate the black market for cannabis. But as the Associated Press reported earlier this year, 80% of California’s marijuana sales still occur “under the table.”

“The reasons behind the persistence of the marijuana black market are complex,” he writes. “One of the main arguments is that the legalized states have failed to establish a regulatory framework which effectively keeps both producers and consumers in the legal market. Instead, strict regulations and high cost of compliance have created an environment in favor of big players while driving small-scale businesses into the black market.”

Among the reasons people gave Song as to why they remained in the black market, some of the most frequent responses included “high taxes,” “overregulation,” and “cost of compliance.” Though as Colorado rates didn’t change over the years, as Song wrote, he saw the effect harsh compliance had in Washington. When the state introduced more regulations, Washington’s crime rate also rose, according to Song’s analysis.

“The fact that Washington’s marijuana black market kept growing after the implementation of more complex and sophisticated regulations at least indicates a correlation between regulation intensity and the increase of the black market in the case of Washington,” Song writes.

If we’ve learned anything over the past several years in the legalization era, and what this study speaks to, is that marijuana legalization is only half the battle. Regulation and legislation around cannabis that creates an even playing field for all playing field is just as important. Otherwise, the country might find itself in a worse vaping crisis than the one we find ourselves in.

Earlier in 2019, Florida lawmakers approved the state’s first industrial hemp program. This was a campaign priority of Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services Nikki Fried, and expectations were high.

Branded as a savior for the slumping agricultural sector, the hope was crops could be planted this year, launching a multi-billion dollar industry.

With the program now in place and the cannabis cousin moving from seed to sale, the Senate Agriculture Committee got an update Tuesday morning from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The program, said State Director of Cannabis Holly Bell to lawmakers, is on track.

Soon enough, “homegrown” hemp will be in Sunshine State soils. Bell’s prediction: a “several million dollar industry that will become hundreds of millions in the next two years.”

The director noted that permits to begin growing will be issued just after the first of the year. Bell expects 8,000 applicants for the state-approved cultivation permits, with roughly 3,000 farm operations qualifying.

Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat, noted that hemp could be central to the redevelopment of the Panhandle, devastated in 2018’s Hurricane Michael.

That will, Bell said, take time. Cultivation permits could be ready by the first of the year, allowing for spring planting in the Panhandle and earlier planting farther south.

Warning signs, however, are already appearing.

A PEW Stateline story recently noted that, yes, farmers “are rushing to plant newly legalized hemp in hopes of striking it rich, or at least making a good chunk of change in a period of low commodity prices.”

But “as growers across 34 states start to harvest as much as half a million acres of hemp this fall, many newcomers have no idea who will buy their crop or even who will prepare it for sale. One farmer … said he doesn’t know what kind of return he’ll get on his $8,000 investment.”

Moreover, federal input into the state plan is pending – what else – federal rules, at which point the state can submit its plan.

Chairman Ben Albritton, a Republican, noted he was, as a farmer, interested in the crop. But the lack of federal signoff gave him pause.

Bell said she was confident that the USDA’s rules will be released soon, noting that Florida has its own process.

“By December, if everything goes well, our team is ready to issue permits,” she said. “What I’m waiting for is the process of the rulemaking,”

Bell summed up the position of the USDA: “If you don’t hear back from us, that means we’re good.”

“Everybody else is doing it,” Bell added. “They have not intervened and stopped any state [operation].”

Albritton may not plant based on that guidance; however, after the meeting, the Senator told press that “Florida is getting it done and we need the federal government to move.”

And Bell, formerly a Nashville-based cannabis and hemp business consultant, noted regular communication with law enforcement; notably, the department has been working to get a roadside test for THC impairment, which could help to remove confusion for law enforcement that can’t test for illegal use of THC-heavy cannabis currently.

And Bell, formerly a Nashville-based cannabis and hemp business consultant, noted regular communication with law enforcement.

Testing will extend to all products from the hemp program. As with medical cannabis, where components are listed in painstaking detail, expect the same with hemp.

Senators heard also from hemp pilot programs at the University of Florida and FAMU.

UF Director Dr. Robert Gilbert noted that a worry on the UF side is that growers “get ahead of the science” on hemp.

Hemp, Gilbert added, is just one of many crops his program is responsible for. Expect an “emerging crops” summit to be rolled out in the coming months.

FAMU offered a more elliptical presentation, including a story about how Benjamin Franklin had a hemp paper mill, as an indication of the plant’s enduring value.

Bell expects the state hemp program to include a workforce component, as well as an automated permit process.

Once ramped up, Bell expects the program to be huge, as part of regular crop rotations.

In the next two years, she expects the state program to be a “leader in the nation,” seemingly appropriate given the myriad uses for the commodity.

Taylor Biehl, Vice President of the Florida Hemp Association, was encouraged by the progress.

“We look forward to continue growing Florida’s hemp industry while remaining true to our values in ensuring all of Florida’s farmers are represented well in Tallahassee,” he told us Wednesday after the committee wrapped.

Expect more hemp movement this week. On Thursday, the Industrial Hemp Advisory Council will meet, followed by a meeting of the Hemp Advisory Committee.