State law enforcement, local prosecutors, and a lobbyist convinced legalization of medical cannabis posed the greatest threat to the quality of life in Kansas. They tried to quietly squeeze into a bill lowering fees on industrial hemp producers, an amendment that could send wayward farmers to prison for years.
The threshold between freedom and incarceration under the amendment advocated by the executive director of Stand Up for Kansas, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association would be a laboratory test measuring whether a hemp product had a THC content greater than 1 percent. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state of Kansas allow the harvesting, processing, and marketing of hemp with less than 0.3 percent THC.
"I just need help understanding who we are going after. I hope it's not our industrial hemp producers," said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican and farmer. "Is there someplace we can look to find out how much this is being abused? I'm trying to understand where all the abuse is at."
Stand Up for Kansas leader Katie Whisman said she couldn't document the threat posed by crooked hemp farmers. The former Kansas Bureau of Investigation administrator did say the establishment of industrial hemp as a row crop in Kansas created "a lot of confusion for law enforcement" personnel. She said one source of frustration was the challenge of differentiating between legal hemp and illegal cannabis.
Read more at marijuanamoment.net