Smokable hemp, pot are too hard to tell apart — so both should be illegal, NC cops say
North Carolina’s top law enforcement officials and prosecutors want the General Assembly to ban “smokable hemp,” a plant very similar to marijuana but with almost none of the chemical that causes users to feel high.
In a joint letter, the state associations of sheriffs, police chiefs and district attorneys, and the State Bureau of Investigation, asked lawmakers to pass provisions in the North Carolina Farm Act that would make it illegal to have smokable hemp unless you’re a licensed farmer producing the plant for CBD products.
“There is no practical way for law enforcement officers to distinguish the flowering variety of hemp (i.e. smokable hemp) from marijuana because it is the same plant,” the letter says. “The plant looks and smells the same (unburned or burned), whether it is hemp or marijuana. The only difference is the level of THC contained in the plant.”
Without a new ban on the hemp flower, the groups say, “we will have de facto legalization of marijuana.”
Hemp looks and smells like pot, but it can only have trace amounts of the illegal chemical compound THC. Hemp does, however, contain CBD, which has been growing in popularity as an herbal supplement.
The state Senate’s Farm Act has pitted police against farmers in the lobbying fight over regulating hemp in North Carolina, The News & Observer reported last summer. Hemp was illegal in the state for years, but lawmakers began easing regulations on the plant as demand for tobacco dropped and farmers looked for new cash crops.
“We’ll be employing about 90 North Carolinians, in an economically distressed rural county, at an average wage that is high above the median wage for that community — and with benefits,” said Scott Propheter, a vice president with North Carolina hemp producer Criticality, The News and Observer reported.
But the state’s law enforcement officials say there are too many risks.
“There is currently no validated field test which distinguishes the difference between smokable hemp and marijuana. Police narcotics detection K9’s cannot tell the difference between smokable hemp and marijuana because the K9’s are trained to detect THC which is present in both plants,” the letter from law enforcement officials said.
And, they said, the state crime lab does not have the equipment it needs to test THC levels to determine what is legal and what’s not.
This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Smokable hemp, pot are too hard to tell apart — so both should be illegal, NC cops say."
