Local grower said approval is needed to operate legally
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Photo by Christopher Lugo/Staff Lori Lacey handles a hemp plant at the Appalachian Growers’ farms near Franklin.
Hemp in North Carolina is one step closer to becoming completely legal, after the NC Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 762.
The bill allows farmers to continue to grow hemp as a foundation for the fiber found in rope and garments and other products but also for the CBD products, such as oils, vapes and other consumables. The difference is that these products are very low in intoxicants, such as THC, and serve more to soothe people than to make them high.
Since hemp farming became legal under federal law in 2014, there are about 1,500 hemp growers and more than 1,200 processors in North Carolina registered under the USDA Domestic Hemp Production Rule. But North Carolina has looked at this as a pilot program, which is scheduled to end in June. Since January, all those producers had to be registered under the USDA rule.
Local hemp grower Lori Lacey, with Appalachian Growers out of Franklin, said this bill needs to be passed or they would be illegally operating when July 1, comes around.
“If North Carolina did not sign on to what the USDA has already been offering, then yeah, we would be operating illegally in the state of North Carolina,” Lacey said. “We don’t really have the full idea of what would happen, but our vague interpretation would be we would be operating as illegal growers and storefronts. There are millions of dollars that have been invested via stores, retailers, farmers and processors that would be lost at that point.”
For the past five years, Lacey said they have been working in Macon County trying to educate the public and all of that would be lost if the bill is not passed.
“This bill being passed all the way through is very important, so the state is aligned with federal law,” Lacey said. “It makes us as hemp farmers a little more secure in our forecasting. For thre past five or six years, we have had to pivot constantly, facing another challenge. This is just another challenge that we are looking at. There’s been a lot of money and time meeting with people and educating them about what we do that would be all for nothing if this doesn’t pass. This would give us the opportunity to think ahead knowing that we have that stability.”
Lacey said the consensus among growers and business owners in the community is positivity.
“I think there is a lot of positivity that by the end of this week we will have the final sign off,” Lacey said. “All of my sources tell me that it is a very positive situation. This is something that our lawmakers don’t have many issues. The main thing that I hear is that they are trying to make sure there is a clear definition in there distinguishing the difference between hemp and marijuana.”
In the 2022 Farm Act, hemp is described as being cannabis that has 0.3% less Delta-9, which is the chemical that makes a marijuana user high. Hemp would be removed permanently from the state’s list of controlled substances.
The passing of the bill is also a precursor to a move by the Senate to approve medical marijuana.
Lacey said if the state were to make medical marijuana legal, that would be another pivot in their industry that they would have to navigate.
“We are used to making these pivots,” Lacey said. “Florida approved medical, but they still source us. They still source straight hemp-derived CBD because some people respond more positively to hemp-derived CBD than THC. Like myself, I don’t respond well to THC. So, that is not the direction I would take if I needed it for a medical purpose. We sell to many medical dispensaries in Florida that are using our products strictly for a hemp-derived CBD product.”
On Tuesday, the House passed Senate Bill 455 by a vote of 86-25. The bill is now headed to the desk of Gov. Roy Cooper.
- By Christopher Lugo