Legalization of Hemp Could Be First Step for Federal Marijuana Protections

By Susan Milligan, Senior Writer

ATTENTION, MARIJUANA fans: Don’t light up that celebratory doobie just yet. But a long pot-hostile Congress appears headed toward acceptance of a substance more states are deeming legal for medicinal and even recreational purposes.

The 2018 farm bill includes language allowing farmers to grow hemp, a plant that is from the same cannabis family as marijuana but with just a trace of the tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, that provides the “high.” And pot legalization proponents are optimistic that the next Congress, with Democratic control of the House and the departure of one of the chamber’s most ardent foes of legalization, will move on marijuana as well. For more information: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-12-04/legalization-of-hemp-could-be-first-step-for-federal-marijuana-protections