Bluestem's been pretty critical of South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's approach to industrial hemp. Turns out we're not alone.
In the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Forum Communications capitol reporter Dana Ferguson reported Friday in Walz tours Hastings hemp farm to tout crop’s potential — and ding South Dakota:
Gov. Tim Walz walked through rows of hemp and lifted customized gardening shears emblazoned with the phrase “chief hemp inspector.”
Surrounded by state lawmakers, industrial hemp stakeholders and reporters, he snipped off the top of the stem and placed it in a paper bag.
“For us to continue to find and expand and innovate those markets as Minnesota’s always done, this is the place for us to highlight,” Walz said.
The DFL governor on Friday visited Minnesota Hemp Farms in Hastings, the first to cultivate industrial hemp under the state’s pilot program back in 2016 in an effort to raise awareness about the industry and learn more about how the state can help it grow.
Walz’s visit comes just more than a week after South Dakota authorities released details about a July arrest of a Colorado driver carrying hemp through the state to Minnesota. The man was arrested for possession of marijuana as well as other charges, despite federal guidelines that allow people to transport hemp to states or tribal territory where industrial hemp is legal.
South Dakota is one of just a few states that hasn’t legalized industrial hemp. And while Walz said the timing was a coincidence, lawmakers and hemp industry stakeholders at the Hastings farm said they would take the chance to contrast Minnesota’s hemp policies with the state’s neighbor to the west.
“Farming is difficult right now, as most of you know, and there’s not a lot of control that we in the Legislature have to … help the farmers maintain profitability. But whenever we can knock down hurdles like we can with new markets — with hemp — I think we owe it to them to do that,” said Rep. Tony Jurgens, R-Cottage Grove. “South Dakota, they’re lagging behind in this market and I think that we can really prove that we’re a leader in Minnesota.” . . .
Closer to home, Dakota Free Press blogger Cory Allen Heidelberger writes in Noem Can’t Distinguish Industrial Hemp from Wacky Weed:
And here I thought the USDA’s making hemp eligible for crop insurance would change Kristi’s mind….
Governor Kristi Noem still can’t tell the difference between industrial hemp and smokable marijuana. Just take a look at her latest screed from Second Floor, which she mistitles, “Industrial Hemp Is Not the Answer.”
As has been the case throughout her obstinate rejection of crop diversification in South Dakota, Governor Noem has not one argument against industrial hemp itself. She just keeps screaming that, like her, drug dogs and cops and prosecutors won’t be able to tell the difference between hemp that makes clothes and plywood and hempcrete and motorbike mufflers and bioplastic automobiles, and and moms and dads and kids will all get high and destroy family life as we know it:
That’s what it boils down to. Legalizing industrial hemp weakens drug laws. It hurts law enforcement. It’s a step backward. South Dakota already faces a drug problem. Families continue to be ripped apart by substance abuse. I realize this position might not be popular, but that’s not why I’m taking it. As a governor who has said I will make every decision with the next generation in mind, I cannot sit by.
South Dakota must lead by example. We cannot rush into legalizing industrial hemp without knowing the cost we will pay. The safety and health of the next generation is not worth the gamble [Gov. Kristi Noem, weekly column, 2019.08.29].
Hemp was a staple of Minnesota’s economy before World War 2, and Minnesota families weren’t ripped apart back then by substance abuse. Kids can huff paint thinner, parents can make meth from a number of over-the-counter products, and lots of people get addicted and die from opioids, but we find ways for those legal and useful products to coexist with far greater risks from their own use than accrue from smoking pot, which cannot be made from the industrial hemp that Governor Noem resists. . . .
Indeed, that hemp persists as a feral plant throughout greater Minnesota, and even as a wee girl in rural Le Sueur County, Bluestem's editor learned from her hippie neighbors that absolutely nobody smoked that stuff.
It's also curious for Noem to maintain that legalizing industrial hemp automatically puts a state on the slippery slope to legalizing recreational cannabis. How then to explain the bipartisan accord over industrial hemp, but partisan divide over legal weed?
At the beginning of the week, Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reported in Walz wants state to be ready to roll on legal marijuana:
Legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use in Minnesota still faces a big hurdle in the Republican-controlled Senate, but that hasn’t stopped DFL Gov. Tim Walz from preparing for its potential passage. . . .
Last session, a bill to legalize the cultivation, manufacturing, distribution and retail sale of recreational marijuana in Minnesota beginning in 2022, along with the expungement of eligible marijuana-related convictions, suffered a quick defeat after just one hearing in the Senate.
Even if the House passes a bill next year, the Senate hurdle remains.
“It’s my position that it’s not good for Minnesota. It’s dead as far as I’m concerned in the Senate for next year,” said Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka. . . .
Minnesota farmers are exploring industrial hemp as a crop, while the legislature is divided about recreational cannabis. Funny how Minnesotans manage to distinguish between the two substances--even to disagree about one of them.
Our earlier coverage:
Editorial review: South Dakota should learn to walk & chew gum with regard to industrial hemp
Knowns & unknowns: SD Gov. Kristi Noem goes full-bore Donald Rumsfeld on industrial hemp
Photo: Kristi Noem says the state has more questions than answers when it comes to industrial hemp and that “Other states are struggling to implement their industrial hemp laws," according to Noem has hundreds of questions about industrial hemp. Photo credit:SD Gov/MGN via KOTA TV.
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