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Will You Help Farmers in California Grow Hemp?
Why Do California Narcotics Officers Care About Hemp Farming?
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John Lovell
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Dear Reader, Last week the California Narcotics Officers' and Police Chiefs Associations announced that they oppose Senator Mark Leno's hemp farming bill, SB 676. Their opposition letters were sent less than 24 hours before the hearing in Agriculture Committee and featured incorrect and outdated arguments against the bill. Industrial hemp is defined in the bill as cannabis with 0.3% or less THC which clearly has no drug value. There are a number of licensing requirements to ensure that farmers will not be growing drug type cannabis. So why would the narcotics officers and police chiefs oppose allowing California farmers to grow hemp once again?
The answer is John Lovell, the Sacramento lobbyist for both law enforcement groups. Fortunately Vote Hemp attended the hearing in force, thanks to your support, and we were ready to counter his tired old claims that hemp farming was somehow going to make life difficult for law enforcement. In fact, Lovell was on the defensive and ended up being removed from the witness table by the Sergeant at Arms during the hearing due to repeatedly interrupting other witnesses!
During the hearing Vote Hemp board members Patrick Goggin and David Bronner testified on behalf of the bill and the Agriculture Committee recommended the bill "do pass" by a bi-partisan 5 to 1 vote. This is a great start thanks to your help but we have more work to do. The bill now moves to the Public Safety Committee for another hearing. We need your help so we can continue to build support for passage of the bill. Please make a donation today so we can continue to attend hearings, build support around the state and educate legislators and the media. Vote Hemp helped to pass the previous two versions of the bill in 2006 and 2007. Please read the CapInsider story Leno Fights to Expand California's Economy With SB 676 for a sense of the history. With your support, we can see legal hemp farming in California soon.
Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps has generously agreed to match every dollar you donate, doubling the impact of your contribution. Please make a donation now. Every dollar helps. We rarely send out email requests for just donations. Usually we give you a lot of hemp news and strategy updates, but the need now is urgent.
We hope that you are in a position to make an donation and if not, please forward this email to your friends and family and ask them for us. We have been soliciting donations from the hemp industry along with letters of support for SB 676, now we need you to help, too. I thank you in advance for all that you do for the cause.
Regards,
Eric Steenstra President Vote Hemp  | 
