Hemp Final Rule Better for Colorado

Hemp Final Rule Better for Colorado

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

Colorado didn’t budge when the USDA rejected the state’s required Hemp Plan following legalization under the 2018 Farm Bill.

State Ag Commissioner Kate Greenberg says the state had been producing hemp and operating under its own rules for years. It’s opposition to the Interim Final Rule appears to have paid off.

Greenberg: ”The 15-day sampling window was going to be untenable for us. They moved that to 30 which is what we currently operate under. The negligence level for THC was at .5%. We have always operated at a 1% negligence rate in Colorado. That has now become 1% in the Final Rule. We pushed hard for an alternative to destruction for “hot hemp” within a certain range of THC. We don’t want any “hot Hemp” to enter the stream of commerce where it could potentially mix with the wrong products or used in an inappropriate way. But there are other non-consumable uses that are a better use of all of that labor and natural resources than destroying the crop. So there’s some of that flexibility in that new rule.

The state is still struggling with the DEA lab certification. She says that’s a barrier they’re going to have to figure out how to move beyond. Colorado allows private labs registered with the CDA to test Hemp. Greenberg says the CDA is doing a full analysis and plans to have more to say on the federal Hemp Rule.

All hemp producing states and tribes must have plans approved by the USDA. Individuals with controlled substance-related felonies are banned from working in the industry for 10 years.

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