The State Hemp Advisory Committee is trying to kick start Florida’s Hemp industry. One of its first steps is to create rules. Florida’s Director of Cannabis Holly Bell spoke on how that process will move forward.
- Throughout June Holly Bell and Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried held workshops where more than 900 people- from hemp industry stakeholders and others looking to get into it- attended. What type of feedback did you all get from those workshops?
What were some of the rules people addressed the most?
Being able to test THC levels is very important. That’s a huge one not only for consumers but for law enforcement also. They say the new hemp law has made their job harder when it comes to identifying if a person has a hemp or marijuana flower. Is the group or your department helping with that?
In North Florida, those in the timber industry have spoken about hemp as being a replacement crop after much of their timber was uprooted by Hurricane Michael. Have you heard that during the meetings, and what’s the chances that hemp can be something to help those tree farmers recover?
Cannabis Director Holly Bell says now they will be creating final rules and posting them online so that people can make more comments. If no objections are made they will adopt rules and start accepting applications for cultivation. The goal is to have it all done before the end of the year.
