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Originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: May 28, 2018
In WWII, the federal government encouraged farmers to grow hemp — a close but non-psychedelic cousin to marijuana. The war effort needed fiber for parachute rope and related purposes.
But hemp, which enjoyed a storied colonial history — both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew the plant for its many industrial uses — fell prey to another conflict: the war on drugs. Although it contains so little THC you would have to smoke a hemp joint the size of a telephone pole to feel any effect, hemp was outlawed because it looks like marijuana. Allowing hemp cultivation would make raiding pot farms more difficult.
This made minimal sense from the start. It makes even less sense now, when many states have legalized medical and even recreational marijuana, and a majority of the public supports decriminalization.
So it is good news that both of Virginia’s senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, have signed onto legislation to remove hemp from the list of controlled substances, so that it may again be cultivated as an agricultural commodity.
Hemp is highly versatile and good for much more than fiber; it can be found in a wide array of products, from shampoos and moisturizers to protein powder and dog treats. In a state hit hard by the decline of tobacco, hemp would offer farmers a valuable alternative with a minimum of disruption to their business model.
In its quintessentially incremental way, the Virginia General Assembly has authorized four small hemp research projects at state universities. This is lawmakers’ way of acknowledging reality without being taken for a bunch of shoeless hippies. But there’s no need to show such faintheartedness. Legalizing hemp doesn’t encourage drug use any more than legalizing root beer encourages drunkenness. Kudos to Warner and Kaine for doing the right thing for common sense and the state’s farming community.
