Included in the U.S. Senate’s version of the 2018 Farm Bill is language that would legalize the production and sales of hemp.

The move comes four years after U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell inserted a industrial hemp research pilot program into the 2014 Farm Bill. Since then, at least 35 states have taken up the offer and developed industrial hemp programs; those states will be eligible to pursue a legal market in the event this latest agricultural bill is approved.

The hemp language would remove industrial hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and allow states to regulate the production, commerce and research of the plant. (Industrial hemp refers to the cannabis plant with less than 0.03-percent THC content. Hemp is used for a broad array of end products, from clothing and rope to construction materials and biofuels.)

President Donald Trump hasn’t overly signaled support for industrial hemp, but he’s grown somewhat vocal in his tacit approval of states rights in the cannabis space lately.

A vote is expected by July 4.

See the original article at Cannabis Business Times