While I’m wouldn’t call Noem ‘stupid’ I would say she is extremely ‘ignorant’ when it comes to hemp. She keeps getting hung up on the fact that if we legalize hemp in our state farmers will start growing it’s cousin pot.
It is a ludicrous notion on many levels;
• Most SD farmers wouldn’t even know how to grow pot, and the conditions wouldn’t be right anyway. Most recreational pot, at least the good stuff, is grown under highly controlled conditions. This includes greenhouses, air circulation, hydroponics, heat lamps, etc. Growing hemp requires farmers to essentially plant it, and harvest it, that’s about as complicated as it gets. I compare it to Alfalfa.
• Most SD farmers wouldn’t risk losing their farms over illegally growing pot in a hemp field. Sometimes farmers get accused of being stupid, but I don’t think they are dumb enough to risk losing the family farm over a pot infraction. That, and it is almost impossible to hide pot in a hemp field. Industrial hemp would most likely take over the illegal one, and you don’t want cross breeding going on between crops. In other words what’s good for hemp isn’t good for pot, and vice versa.
• 40,000+ products can be made from Hemp. Even if you take out the controversial ones like CBD oils, there are numerous other industrial applications. Our little inconvenience of a handful of podunk cops having to test the crops outweighs the economic impact of this product. This just isn’t about farmers, this is about manufacturing and jobs, in which ironically we will be losing to 47 other states who have figured out this is OK. Once again, SD leaders ‘choose’ to be last.
• Hemp helped to build this nation. Before fabrics and paper were made from cotton and wood pulp, hemp was the main crop used to make these things, I think all the way up until WW2. We have historical precedence when it comes to Hemp. It is harmless and beneficial at the same time.
I think I will change what I said about Noem in the first sentence. When it comes to hemp, she is dumber then a fence post.
Heck even Kentucky is enjoying the benefits of Hemp to the economy;
