Lexington, KY - When new Agriculture Commissioner Jamie Comer-a rising star of the Kentucky Republican Party-and State Senator Joey Pendleton-a long-time and well-respected Democratic leader-joined last week to endorse a major public policy proposal, political insiders took notice of the much-too-rare instance of bipartisanship.
But when the two mostly conservative politicians revealed that their common objective was the legalization of industrial hemp, the halls of Frankfort let out a collective gasp.
That's because the subject of hemp legalization, while discussed and debated for decades, has been mostly seen as a cause cÈlËbre of the political margins, either the "hippie" Far Left or the libertarian Far Right. And the politician most associated with hemp's advocacy was the perennial candidate and courthouse jester of Kentucky politics, the recently deceased Gatewood Galbraith.
But as the Comer/Pendleton alliance reveals, public support for industrial hemp legalization-particularly within the agri-cultural community (both men are active farmers)-is reaching a tipping point.
And it's time for Kentucky's business community to shoulder-pad-up and push legalized industrial hemp across the goal line.
Last week, I caused a bit of a stir when I published an essay in the
Lexington Herald-Leader that argued it's high time to legalize marijuana.
I'm not your typical pro-pot advocate. Like Bill Clinton, I've never inhaled; but unlike the former president-indeed, unlike most of my Gen X cohorts-I've never even handled a joint. Since I lost my chain-smoking grandmother to cancer at an impressionable age, the thought of sucking any kind of smoke into my lungs thoroughly disgusts me.
So when I
served as Kentucky's state treasurer, it was easy for me to represent my conservative constituents and oppose legalizing cannabis.
But leaving the arena last year
freed me of my electoral blinders and allowed me to take a more critical look at the underlying issues. And I concluded that
legalizing cannabis would
enable our government, as well as our society, to better reflect universally shared moral values, such as compassion toward the sick, justice in our
legal system and economic opportunity for all.
But while a recent
Gallup poll revealed
that a majority
of Americans support legalizing marijuana, and our junior U.S. Senator's father, Ron Paul-a legal pot proponent-has run well in the early GOP presidential primaries,
I concede that legalizing marijuana is still a few political cycles away. Additionally, any meaningful solution must be reached at the federal level.
But hemp is not pot.
As a recent series of compelling
Business Lexington
exposÈs have revealed, the two plants are quite distinct in the way that they appear physically and are cultivated agriculturally. Smoking hemp can't get you high; it just might make you feel a little foolish that you tried.
More significantly, legalized industrial hemp production could emerge as a prolific cash crop that could bring hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue to the Commonwealth.
As Comer testified, there are more than 25,000 uses for the crop, including rope, clothing, automotive paneling and door installation-even makeup.
Most exciting to me-as a clean energy advocate- is hemp's application as a clean-burning alternative fuel.
Hemp burns with no carbon emissions and produces twice as much ethanol per acre as corn. While bio-fuels critics have raised alarms at the diversion of food products into fuel production-causing a recent spike in food prices-hemp has no such negative economic side effects. Moreover, hemp crops need no pesticides to flourish, and their cultivation leaves the soil more enriched.
As the United States struggles with the dual enormous challenges of climate change and dependence on foreign oil, industrial hemp could become a powerful weapon in America's energy independence arsenal.
Because of our climate and the nature of our soil, Kentucky would be ideally situated to reap enormous economic benefits should hemp be legalized. And the areas of the state that would benefit the most-the mountain valleys of the East and the plains in the West - are among the most economically challenged areas of the Commonwealth, and indeed our entire country.
Passage of the legislation introduced by Senator Pendleton-and supported by Commissioner Comer and a bi-partisan group of mostly rural legislators-would not immediately result in hemp's legalization. Instead, it would enable Kentucky to seek a permit from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to grow hemp. In so doing, with federal hemp legalization a real short-term possibility (Remember: A
majority of Americans
already support the much more controversial step of legalizing marijuana), Pendleton's bill would place Kentucky at the front of the line, enabling our farmers and our local industry to seize the economic initiative as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Legalizing hemp would provide a no-risk, no-victim economic jackpot for the Commonwealth. And it hasn't gone unnoticed: Commissioner Comer cited a recent poll that revealed
that already 70 percent of Kentuckians support the legal use of industrial hemp.
So why haven't we seen action?
The legislative paralysis should come as no surprise: Our political system's deep dysfunction and hyper-partisanship too often prevent even the most obviously beneficial public policies from becoming law.
That's why it is critical for the business community to become engaged. Every time business leaders have joined in concerted statewide reform efforts-whether for KERA, higher education reform, or the attraction of major industries to the state such as Toyota-the community has provided the critical, non-partisan leadership needed to overcome political stasis. And on this manifestly economic issue, no Kentucky group has more credibility than the men and women who create the jobs and make the products that keep our economy humming.
Should the business community take a strong stance on behalf of the Comer/Pendleton legislation, it would provide the final push necessary to solidify legislative support for the proposal. When small-town and large-city business people join forces with rural farmers to advocate for hemp legalization in Frankfort, our General Assembly cannot ignore them.
If you agree, contact your legislator immediately to insist that hemp legalization is not a radical, fringe issue, but rather a moral and economic imperative for our state. Equally as important, encourage your trade associations and civic groups to become involved advocates for the issue.
Once the business community unites behind hemp, there's no telling the economic progress we could achieve for the Commonwealth.
Jonathan Miller is the former Kentucky State Treasurer and Secretary of Finance and Administration and blogs at TheRecoveringPolitician.com.