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ISSUE 7 Aug / Sep / Oct
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Winona LaDuke talks hemp and the Green New Deal H E M P. C O
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This bag of hemp, grown on a small farm in Montana, is destined for a home extraction. Read more on page 31
editor’s note
Now that hemp is legal, we must ask ourselves what it will take for the plant to heal, rather than harm.
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Second, how should we harness hemp’s potential? In his essay on the plight of the honeybee, Associate Editor Joel Hathaway probes the claim that hemp can help struggling bee populations. His conclusion: Hemp might help the honeybees, but not if the plant is turned into yet another massive monoculture crop. And third, what voices should lead the hemp movement? In my cover story conversation with LaDuke, she argues that the hemp industry will only achieve social, political, and environmental change if we prioritize the ideas of people who are stuck at the bottom of the economy today. Whether you’ve come to HEMP because you have a budding CBD curiosity or because you’re forming an international hemp cultivation conglomerate, we hope that you’ll continue to ask questions about what the plant needs to heal, rather than harm.
Julia Clark-Riddell Executive Editor PHOTO TODD HEATH
what the hemp industry needs to do in this first year of federal legalization, the environmental and indigenous rights activist responded with characteristic optimism and wit. “We have to be mindful of this magical moment, and we need to think out of the box,” she told me. “Our ancestors were guided by the stars, and today, most people need a GPS to get anywhere.” Over the course of our conversation, LaDuke made clear just how far out of the box she thinks the hemp industry has to go. She’s on a mission to build a post-petroleum economy, and she believes that hemp has a role to play in that fossil-fuel-free future as a textile, a soil builder, and a medicine. In this issue of HEMP, we follow LaDuke’s lead and ask a few key questions to help drive out-of-the-box thinking about where hemp should head. First, who should this hemp industry support? In his feature on the “felony ban” hidden in the 2018 Farm Bill, reporter Kit O’Connell investigates the bill’s fine print and reveals the dire consequences of banning people with drug-related felonies from working in legal hemp. WHEN I ASKED WINONA LADUKE
ISSUE SEVEN
On Winona LaDuke’s farm in northern Minnesota, the land is cultivated using teams of horses to plow the land instead of petroleum-powered tractors. Read more on page 62
features
THE FELONY BAN: BEHIND THE ORIGINAL SIN OF THE 2018 FARM BILL 36
Built into the law that legalized hemp is a stipulation that advocates for social and racial justice worry will disproportionately lock poor people and people of color out of the hemp industry. By Kit O’Connell
Recent reports have argued that hemp may be able to help struggling honeybee populations. But over a decade after news of their decline first broke, what’s hurting the pollinating powerhouses remains complicated. By Joel Hathaway WINONA LADUKE WALKS THE WALK 62
HEMP talks with the renowned activist about her efforts to bring hemp back to the forefront on Native lands, create a post-petroleum economy, and more. By Julia Clark-Riddell
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PHOTO SARAH LITTLEREDFEATHER DESIGN
NOT QUITE SO SWEET: HEMP & THE HONEYBEE 46
ISSUE Seven
contents
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Hemp Meets Fine Art By Katie Way 77 HINDSIGHT 88 politics HEMP IS LEGAL! BUT WHAT’S NEXT? 15
The industry gets bogged down in the weeds of implementation. By Ben Droz THE BLOSSOMING MARKET FOR HEMP FLOWER 20
While most of the attention around the CBD boom is focused on tinctures and topicals, some growers have tapped into a burgeoning consumer desire for smokable hemp flower. By A.J. Herrington
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industry
culture
HOME HEMP OIL EXTRACTION 31
PLAN A SUMMER HEMP PICNIC! 54
ASK THE HEMP HERO 43
By Liz Schoch
How one hemp company in Montana has converted a garage into a boutique hemp oil factory. By Robin A.W. Kelley
HEMP’s advice columnist dishes out hard truths and shares crucial guidance for navigating an industry often awash in misinformation. By Kate Robertson
These three recipes can help you host the perfect hemp-inspired picnic, featuring a cheese plate with hemp crackers, a tabbouleh salad, and a berry tartlet for dessert. FIVE BOOKS FOR THE HEMP LOVER’S LIBRARY 73
Gain five new perspectives on the hemp plant and its place in society with these essential reads. By K. Astre
THE LIST: HEMP FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME 81
Celebrate the sunshine with HEMP’s picks for the beach, the backyard, and the boardwalk.
PHOTO COURTESY OREGONIZED ALLIANCE
EDITOR’S NOTE 04
Hemp-sown fields await spring sunshine and rain at Fire Ridge Farms in Southern Oregon.
Publisher
Eugenio Garcia Creative Director
Todd Heath Executive Editor
Julia Clark-Riddell Associate Editor
Joel Hathaway Copy Editor
Katie Way Contributing Editor
Ben Droz Account Executives
Lindsey Mandelbaum Shelby Nelson Jason Rosenberg Support Associate
Andy Gavin Production Manager
Maria MacVean Advertising
sales @ thehempmag.com Stay Connected
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K. Astre Matt Brown Jenny Chang Francisco Freeman Francesco Guerrieri A.J. Herrington
Sarah Little Redfeather Robin A. W. Kelley Kit O’Connell Kate Robertson Liz Schoch Sara Sofia Wallach
On the Cover Environmental and indigenous activist Winona LaDuke stands in her hemp field in northern Minnesota.
Photo by Sarah Little Redfeather Design
H E M P. C O
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HEMP TODAY MEDIA, LLC
PHOTO COURTESY MATT BROWN, FIRE RIDGE FARMS
CONTRIBUTORS
contributor
ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRANCISCO FREEMAN
S P OTLI G HT
K. ASTRE
is a California writer with a global appetite for art, music, and culture. She fuels her creativity with tea, yoga, meditation and, of course, cannabis.
KIT O’CONNELL
is a freelance writer from San Diego, California covering hemp and cannabis. His work has been published by HEMP, High Times, OC Weekly, and other publications.
LIZ SCHOCH
A.J. HERRINGTON
is the editor-in-chief of the Ministry of Hemp. A gonzo journalist from Austin, Texas, his work has also appeared in Yes! Magazine, Truthout, Firedoglake, The Establishment, and the Texas Observer. is a nutritionist and creator of Inspector Gorgeous blog, where she creates plant-based, low-sugar recipes. She enjoys food photography, old cookbooks, and vegetarian sushi. You can find her work at inspectorgorgeous.com.
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state of hemp
HEMP IS L EGAL ! BU T W H AT ’S NE X T ? The industry gets bogged down in the weeds of implementation. Wo r d s a n d P h o t o s B y B e n D r o z
In late 2018, hemp became legal. In 2019, hemp became — dare I say — mainstream. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp and its derivatives were removed from the Controlled Substances Act. For years, activists like myself dreamed of this day and imagined the floodgates opening to a new agriculture revolution. Now, hemp can finally be industrialized and turned into thousands of products, like cars, fuel, plastics, and toilet paper. So, when exactly will hemp be in everything? As you probably are aware, regulators don’t always move very quickly. Once a law is passed, it must be put into effect through a sometimes-lengthy process of promulgation and implementation. The federal agencies that are tasked with regulating hemp must develop rules and processes for the new program. Specifically, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been tasked with the authority over hemp and hemp products. Because this is a brand-new program, with snags to resolve with the DEA and banking regulators, it could take a while. In fact, it could take years, and the FDA has said it might be faster for Congress to pass a new bill specifically to address hemp and hemp-derived CBD. (Thanks to hemp’s popularity, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he is already working on it.) So, as initial excitement about hemp legalization wanes, it’s clear that the hemp plant is just starting to walk down the long road toward being a true agricultural commodity. It could take
years for the full implementation of this law. Banks have yet to open the floodgates of capital. Law enforcement agencies are still grappling with distinguishing hemp from high-THC cannabis. The USDA has heard from industry leaders and the FDA has accepted comments from the public. So, for practical purposes, hemp is still in the pilot stage. But this is not necessarily bad. In fact, it could be the last break that small farmers get. REGULATIONS SNAIL FORWARD
For the first time in generations, the USDA is now addressing the hemp question head-on. On March 13, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service held a three-hour-long webinar for public comments, diving deep into issues in the hemp industry. The main message of the webinar: This isn’t going to be as easy as corn or cotton. The webinar showed that the USDA has been making strong efforts and taking action to open the door for farmers. In April, Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Jon Tester of Montana sent a letter to the Customs and Border Patrol requesting “immediate clarification to border agents” that imported viable hemp seed does not require DEA permits any longer. It took the USDA less than three days to publish a bulletin providing this clarification. However, despite this quick action, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue has made it clear on multiple occasions that it could take
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This regulatory conflict is working its way towards a showdown: Big Pharma may not be ready to give up CBD without a fight, but the public might already have a taste for over-the-counter CBD gummies and cocktails.
A flag made from hemp textiles waves in the wind during a hemp advocacy event in front of the U.S. Capitol. 16 thehempmag.com
many more months for the USDA to issue official guidelines for states programs. Perdue has said that the USDA is planning for its program to officially begin with the 2020 planting season. Compared to the USDA, the FDA appears to have a more challenging mandate. The food and drug regulatory body has to figure out how to square a circle: It does not currently consider CBD to be a dietary supplement or food ingredient, because of its similarity to Epidiolex, the CBD pharmaceutical that was approved by the FDA in 2018 after years of clinical trials. However, corner stores, pharmacies, and mom-and-pop shops around the nation are already selling CBD products, and without regulation, there’s no way of ensuring product safety. This regulatory conflict is working its way towards a showdown: Big Pharma may not be ready to give up CBD without a fight, but the public might already have a taste for over-the-counter CBD gummies and cocktails. BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES
Beyond the USDA and FDA regulations, one of the biggest barriers to major hemp commercialization is that hemp companies have long been denied even the most basic banking and financial services. This has meant that many basic businesses don’t even have bank accounts, and also hinders the large-scale production and development of industrial hemp fiber. In April, Senators McConnell of Kentucky and Ron Wyden of Oregon sent letters to four federal banking institutions, “reiterating hemp’s legality and requesting timely guidance and clarification to help ease concerns from lawful hemp farmers and producers about the lack of access to financial services.” They requested that big banks update their internal protocols to accept hemp money, but change on that front has been sluggish. THE HEMP PILOT PROGRAM: A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
Let’s go back to before the 2018 Farm Bill. When the 2014 Farm Bill passed, it included a small section called SEC 7606 that created the framework for states to build hemp pilot programs. This pilot program was, by most accounts, a good system for many small hemp producers. And until the regulations of full hemp legalization are put into place, SEC 7606 is still the guiding framework today.
With rules that could take months or years to issue, SEC 7606 gives us a clear path of what to do. Thanks to the “marketing” provision, SEC 7606 leaves the doors wide open to opportunity for hemp commerce. While banking restrictions have hindered the industry in many ways, they have also hindered large corporate entities from swooping in too fast. Small farmers can still produce local products and are building a supply chain of local producers and processors. While the CBD rush has brought in some bad actors (the FDA has sent several warning letters since 2014), there is an authenticity to the industry, thanks to the activism it is rooted in. But when full commercialization comes, it will open the door to bigger fish — and gargantuan sharks. There is a real risk of a takeover from major corporate stakeholders: Big Tobacco, Big Alcohol, and Big Agriculture all have their sights set on the industry’s potential profits. When the 2018 Farm Bill is fully implemented, it could inadvertently transfer this incredible opportunity of untold potential directly into the hands the very corporations that have been the adversaries of hemp and environmental activists for so many years. THE MOVEMENT’S MOMENT
Despite all of the barriers and challenges, hemp today is legal, and there is nothing now that can stop the revolution and evolution of this amazing crop. Decades and decades have led to this very special moment, the building of an industry from the ground up. Five years ago, SEC 7606 was brand new, and the earliest adopters planted their very first hemp fields. Five years from now, hemp and CBD could be in millions of products consumed by hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. But right now, small farmers and entrepreneurs actually might still have the lead — and the ability to shape a brand new industry and policy. It would be easy to sell out right now, but that was never part of the plan for our plant, the vision of hemp that has the potential to transform rural America, heal people from pain and prescriptions, and slow down climate change. By sowing seeds now, we have an opportunity that we can only dream of. In in the years to come, we will be able to make our dreams become reality.
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Cannabis Marketing for Mobile | Outdoor | Social Media
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T H E B LO S S O M I N G M A R K E T FOR HEMP FLOWER While most of the attention around the CBD boom is focused on tinctures and topicals, some growers have tapped into a burgeoning consumer desire for smokable hemp flower. By A . J. Herrington
PHOTO COURTESY OREGONIZED ALLIANCE
With the rebirth of hemp agriculture in the United States, farmers are still exploring new markets and opportunities. One emerging trend — spurred by the continued explosion of interest in cannabidiol (CBD) — involves consumers willing to pay top dollar for smokable hemp flower. When dried and cured like medicinal or recreational cannabis, female hemp flowers can provide a satisfying experience for people looking to smoke without a desire to get high. Depending on the quality of the flower, smoking female hemp flower can also deliver a healthy dose of CBD and a flavorful terpene profile. Derik Julian learned the craft of cultivating quality cannabis flowers for medical marijuana patients in Northern California, before moving to Southern Oregon in 2015 with the intent of growing for the recreational cannabis market. But when he saw that market tank in 2016, as an overflow of supply dropped flower prices to record lows, he changed plans and decided to watch hemp’s prospects through the following year. In 2018, Julian jumped into the hemp industry, formed his company, Oregonized Alliance, and planted 42 acres of feminized seed. Although most of the crop was harvested
and processed for extraction, a crew of 60 cut the flowering tops from five acres of plants, hanging them to cure in 30,000 square feet of drying space Julian had at his disposal. Julian takes pride in his crop, saying, “a lot of states can do their best to harvest quality flower, but they can’t compete with Oregon’s sun and climate. The microclimate here is so similar to Northern California. It’s the best.” Julian’s crop was part of a 2018 hemp flower market worth $11.5 million across the nation, up 250% from the previous year, according to an estimate from Brightfield Group. “We identified it as one of the fastest-growing segments of the CBD market this year,” Bethany Gomez, a hemp analyst for the cannabis research group, told Hemp Industry Daily. “It’s a trend that’s still very much developing, so it’s hard to tell whether it has a long-term play.” Julian suggests that farmers who put the effort into producing quality flower stand firm with a price that reflects their care. He says while some large companies were buying truckloads of flower for $150 per pound, he was able to command $500 from specialty CBD retailers for last year’s crop. “At the end of the day, buyers don’t set prices,” says Julian.
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