What do Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and Woody Harrelson have in common? They all are supporters of legalizing industrial hemp. Harrelson has been an advocate for many years, having been arrested in 1996 in Kentucky, the home state of the other two, for planting four hemp seeds–a protest against laws that failed to distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana as a drug. Paul and McConnell are relative Johnny-come-latelies to the issue, but they have caught a whiff of the profits to be made.

Kentucky is tobacco country and tobacco farmers are hurting as the demand for their crop declines. Industrial hemp’s popularity would be enhanced by its multitude of uses, one of which was demonstrated by Rand Paul on Monday before Kentucky’s Senate Agricultural Committee. He whipped off his suit jacket to reveal a hemp-fiber shirt, purchased in Canada. The occasion was a hearing on legalizing industrial hemp and licensing growers in the state–an effort that paid off when the committee voted unanimously in favor of the proposed legislation after Rand’s testimony.

Four members of Kentucky’s Congressional delegation are now active supporters of legalizing hemp, including Paul, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, Democrat, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican, and Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell. McConnell became a convert after conversations with Paul convinced him of the profits farmers could make off the crop. He said of his conversion:

“The utilization of hemp to produce everything from clothing to paper is real. And if there is a capacity to center a new domestic industry in Kentucky that will create jobs in these difficult economic times that sounds like a good thing to me.”

Some of the uses for hemp cited in Wikipedia include the manufacture of paper, textiles, clothing, biodegradable plastics, construction products, body products, health food, and bio-fuel. Hemp is the same type of plant …read more

Source:: Weed Feed