BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 22, 2022
The 2018 farm bill may have legalized hemp production, but it’s going to take language in the 2023 farm bill to remove lingering red tape regulating the crop. Those regulations stem from laws governing production of marijuana and, according to hemp growers, cast an unfair net over the growing of all cannabis. Hemp is the botanical class of cannabis grown specifically for industrial, fiber or medical use. Unlike marijuana strains, hemp contains low levels of the psychoactive compound that produces the “high” sensation. Federal laws do not go far enough in making the regulatory distinction between the two classes of cannabis. That, according to hemp growers, unfairly lumps them in with the growers producing hallucinogenic products.