Polis calls for ‘common sense’ federal cannabis regulations at NoCo Hemp Expo

ESTES PARK — Lawmakers in Washington ought to adopt an approach more like Colorado’s when it comes to regulating hemp and cannabis, Gov. Jared Polis said Friday during a keynote address at the Northern Colorado Hemp Expo in Estes Park.

“We are proudly pushing and moving forward here in Colorado,” he said, and now voters across the country must “call on Congress to act to remove really simple barriers that add costs for hemp farmers.”

For example, lawmakers could, and should, raise the allowed THC threshold for hemp from 0.3% to 1%, Polis said. “These are common sense things that Congress can do in the next Farm Bill.”

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The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp production in the United States and removed the plant from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s schedule of controlled substances, but didn’t go far enough to support the companies that are taking on the challenge of building a brand new industry, he said. 

“We can only do so much as a state,” Polis said. “Frankly, it’s long past time for the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) to create reasonable regulations around consumable hemp products, specifically those that might have the level of cannabinoids that could be intoxicating in some cases. In the absence of federal regulations, it’s up to the states, and we continue to urge the FDA to address the uncertainty that affects investment.”

Colorado “has led the way” in fostering its homegrown hemp and cannabis industries despite lack of a federal framework for regulation, NoCo Hemp Expo organizer and We Are For Better Alternatives founder Morris Beegle said. But hemp companies need federal “legislative action so we can get over the hump, regulate cannabinoids correctly and grow the industry.”

While an organized federal regulatory overhaul might be the ultimate goal, “we’re not holding our breath on Congress for anything,” Polis said. Members of the Colorado hemp and marijuana  industries won’t let “the failure-in-Washington act hold us back. We’re doing everything we can here in Colorado and we’re focused on making sure that Colorado can lead in the hemp economy.”

While the “absence of federal regulation is challenging,” he said,  in Colorado “we will and we can find new ways to use hemp to better our communities, our economy, our lives, our state and our world.”