Talks break down on Ky. industrial hemp bill

Ky. House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins disappointed with industrial hemp bill breakdown

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Negotiations have broken down on a bill that would allow Kentucky to quickly license hemp growers if the federal government ever lifts a ban on the crop, a legislative leader said Monday.

House Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Catlettsburg, had voiced optimism early Monday that a deal could be struck between House and Senate negotiators before the Legislature adjourns on Tuesday. However, by Monday night, he said he was disappointed by the lack of progress.

The hemp legislation has been hotly debated this year in Frankfort and was languishing in the House before Adkins stepped in with a proposal that seemed to revive it.

Hemp thrived as a crop in Kentucky generations ago but has been banned for decades by the federal government after it was classified as a controlled substance.

Under Adkins' proposal, the Kentucky State Police would be the agency designated to issue licenses to hemp growers. That's an effort to appease lawmakers who worry that hemp could be used as a cover crop to camouflage illegal marijuana.

"The intent is to make it a better bill and a stronger bill," Adkins said.

The proposal also would involve the University of Kentucky in hemp research and would revamp the Kentucky Hemp Commission to include the Kentucky State Police commissioner and the UK agriculture dean as co-chairs along with the state agriculture commissioner.

The original hemp proposal has already cleared the Senate and made it through a House committee. Agriculture Commissioner James Comer has said the crop could be an economic boon for Kentucky. Besides creating another crop for the state's farmers, Comer said hemp could lead to manufacturing jobs that produce products ranging from paper to cosmetics.

But the bill has been unpopular with law enforcement officials who complain that industrial hemp and marijuana have identical leaves and that laboratory tests is required to distinguish between the two. Hemp has less THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.

Under Adkins' proposed amendment, the state's hemp commission would be attached to the University of Kentucky for administrative purposes and would establish a 5-year research program and would seek a federal waiver to allow the state to grow hemp on demonstration sites.