Hawaii has struggled to put its agricultural sector on firmer footing for years, since the pineapple and especially the sugar anchor crops diminished and disappeared from the state’s economy.
That’s why state lawmakers must not lose the opportunity to pass enabling legislation for the development of a commercial crop with a great deal of potential for the islands.
Hemp offers such an opportunity, and the vehicle best positioned to advance that interest is House Bill 1819. That measure has cleared the House Finance Committee and now should get a floor vote to proceed to the Senate for further discussion.
Friday is the deadline for bills to be in final form for decking — preparation for the floor vote — and another measure, HB 2102, also is in the queue to move ahead. However, it is HB 1819 that has been guided by the research already done on the existing pilot program and offers the best framework for Hawaii-
based commercial cultivation.
This state is clearly lagging in this initiative behind other states, which already have a sizable industry. For example: Tennessee has 53,000 acres planted in industrial hemp, with 4,100 farmers licensed as growers, said state Rep. Cynthia Thielen, the Republican lawmaker who has championed this development for many years. Kentucky and Oregon also have a head start, she said.
The debate at this stage seems to center on how stringent the state Department of Agriculture should be in its regulatory function. Advocates for HB 1819 rightly point to rules the U.S. Department of Agriculture adopted in October, lifting the legal constraints on hemp cultivation.
Those rules were enabled by the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed hemp from the definition of cannabis, the drug still listed as a Schedule 1 controlled substance under federal law.
Cannabis, or marijuana, is the distinct variation of the hemp plant that produces the “high” of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It’s that persistent association that seems to have hamstrung state officials on hemp, which can yield products such as construction materials and food items that are benign and potentially lucrative.
It’s important that the state come to grips with the changed legal landscape and enact this legislation. The pilot program of research will lapse Oct. 31, when the authority to produce hemp outside the 2018 Farm Bill provisions will expire, said Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser, chairperson of the state Board of Agriculture.
Thielen said HB 2102 adopts a now-outdated perception of industrial hemp as a crop that, like the restricted cannabis product, must be treated as if it were a drug. Among its provisions: Hemp products would be barred from sale to persons under 21.
This is plainly unnecessary, said Thielen, and she’s right. That’s why HB 1819 is geared to keep the state Department of Agriculture from adopting rules that are more stringent than what the federal government already sets out for hemp production.
The measure would establish the authority for the state DOA to monitor and regulate hemp, but would steer away from oversight that is more restrictive than the federal department requires. For example, it would direct the agency to collect “representative samples” of the hemp “to the extent and in amounts and frequency required by applicable federal hemp law.”
There is also useful advice from the pilot program’s team, which urges the state to avoid recreating the pilot’s burdensome application and reporting process.
There are several states with successful hemp industries on the rise, and these could serve as models for Hawaii. This state has catch-up to do. Passage of HB 1819 would be a good start.
