The Hemp Report

     Some weeks are like roller coasters. Last week was one of them. I started off by presenting testimony for Vote Hemp for HB 424 before the Senate Commerce, Labor and Consumer Protection Committee in New Hampshire on Tuesday. I have been to better, more positive hearings. The hearing for the hemp farming bill came just before lunch and committee members seemed hungry to get out of there. It followed a lengthy hearing for a health insurance bill. The room was way too warm. I had decided after the hearing in the House that I would try to speak after law enforcement if possible. I was successful, but the Committee did not take the opportunity to ask me more than one question.

     Major Susan Forey of the New Hampshire State Police and Associate Attorney General Ann Rice presented what I would generously call misinformation. Unfortunately I have heard the talking points that they were using in testimony in other states. These talking points are from a very old playbook, which we countered years ago in the Vote Hemp Treatise. Supporters of hemp farming in New Hampshire did not present their best testimony in favor of the bill. I would hope that the Committee can see through this and send HB 424 to the floor of the Senate for a vote before the end of the session.

     Things went much better in Vermont on Thursday and Friday. I presented testimony for Vote Hemp for H 267 before the House Committee on Agriculture. I was a few minutes late for my hearing time, but I was in contact with Amy Shollenberger of Rural Vermont who informed the Committee Chair of my arrival time. When I did arrive I knew I was in friendlier territory by the Hemp for Victory poster on the Committee's wall! North Dakota House Assistant Majority Leader David Monson was there, too, having already arrived in preparation for his testimony the next morning. My testimony went well and the Committee asked questions for well over an hour.

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