Congress has passed the 2018 Farm Bill which now goes to the President for his signature. The bipartisan bill includes many provisions that benefit the Central Coast. It also legalizes the production of hemp for the first time in decades.
Hemp – the non-psychoactive form of marijuana – could threaten the outdoor production of commercially regulated marijuana. Farm Bureau officials said that if the two – hemp and marijuana — cross-pollinate it could ruin marijuana crops being grown for their high content of the psychoactive content THC. Growers say that danger could force marijuana cultivation indoors.
On the positive side, the law would remove the stigma legal questions surrounding the growing of hemp containing high levels of medically-important CBD compounds.
How this will work out, presuming President Trump signs the bill, remains unclear.
