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Hemp Reform Act Seeks to Remove Outdated Restrictions, Align with Federal Law
Throughout much of U.S. history, hemp was a major cash crop, used in food and supplements, as fiber in clothing and construction, and more. Hemp plants were also found to be beneficial to soil health.
This all changed in the 1930s, when hemp got swept up in the fever to ban marijuana, hemp's cannabis cousin. This was misguided, because while hemp can contain several cannabinoid compounds, it almost always contains microscopic amounts of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that gets marijuana users high.
The federal government took the first step in redressing this historical error in the current Farm Bill, enacted in 2018, which made hemp growing legal across the nation and allowed the production and sale of hemp oil products — including CBD — as long as they contain 0.3 percent or lower THC-9.
But hemp production has continued to be constrained in Illinois because of outdated provisions in state law stating that hemp products intended to be ingested (such as CBD) can be deemed adulterated.
The current law also allows for unannounced inspections of hemp facilities. A requirement that growers must provide a statement of land area and an agricultural property tax code for that area makes it virtually impossible for those desiring to produce a very small hemp crop to do so.
The Illinois Hemp Growers Association (IHGA) is making a major push to amend the current law to fix these issues. They have drafted a proposal, titled the Hemp Reform Act, and are drawing attention to it by lobbying in Springfield during the current veto session (akin to a "lame duck session") of the state legislature. The bill is sponsored by State Rep. Sonya Harper of Chicago, who chairs the state House Agriculture Committee.
The legislature is wrapping up the first three days of the veto session today (November 14) and will return for three days starting Tuesday (November 19). That Wednesday, November 20, IHGA is holding a lobby day at the state Capitol and urges anyone who supports unshackling the hemp industry and can make it to join in the effort.
[Note: IHGA is a sponsor of Local Food Forum.]
I learned the details of the proposal last Friday (November 8) at a Hemp Town Hall presented by IHGA at The Plant, a food business incubator in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood. The discussion was led by Rachel and Chris Berry (photo above), the married couple who founded and lead IHGA while growing hemp on their 13-acre farm in Princeton, Illinois.
Their slide slow includes the following fun cartoon, featuring a farming rabbit, that spells out why this effort is so important.
Chris walked the audience through the technical details in the Hemp Reform Act. The key points:
The current state law clearly defines hemp and industrial hemp as "the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis and includes any intermediate or finished product made or derived from industrial hemp."
The proposed Hemp Reform Act would change state law by stating that hemp plants and products cannot be deemed adulterated simply because they contain any of a long list of cannabinoid compounds, excluding only THC-9 in concentrations above 0.3 percent. This measure would bring the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act provisions on hemp into conformity with the federal provisions of the Farm Bill enacted in 2018.
Under the bill, hemp products are not considered adulterated unless they violate packaging, labeling, or safety guidelines.
The measure would ease current inspection rules for hemp production facilities, which currently require one annual inspection of each hemp production facility by the state Department of Agriculture and allow for additional unannounced inspections. The amendments would require only one annual inspection of at least a random group of producers and would forbid unannounced inspections.
The bill would eliminate "land area" under the property tax code as the definition of a hemp growing location, replacing it with the much more flexible term "lot." If enacted, this would enable hemp growing on very small plots of land and even in basements.
To get the full text of the bill, click the button below.
And click below to learn more about the Illinois Hemp Growers Association. Everyone interested in facilitating economic opportunity and growth in the Illinois hemp sector is welcome to join as a member, even if they are not a grower or producer.
Fun fact: the rabbit in the comic is supposed to be me in my hemp bibs! 🐰😊🌱