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Missouri hemp bill defended: it’s not marijuana

The Senate Agriculture Committee in Missouri has advanced a measure that would allow for an industrial hemp pilot program, but not without criticism. Former Missouri Highway Patrolman Ed Moses, in his testimony before the committee, said legalizing hemp production would be a challenge for law enforcement, “This would automatically legalize marijuana. We would lose probable cause by law enforcement because we would no longer be able to tell a difference.”

But, committee chairman Brian Munzlinger disagrees, saying hemp is NOT marijuana, “You know, it’s been a long hard battle just getting people to understand exactly what industrial hemp is and I think we actually saw some of that (today), where they’re trying to compare it to a drug crop and we’re doing an agricultural crop here.”

The committee approved the hemp bill which now goes to the Missouri Senate floor. It was approved last month by the Missouri House ag committee.

On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan bill will be introduced in the U.S. Senate next week that would remove hemp from the Controlled Substance Act.