Kost highlights hemp, ag relief bills for session

Posted 2/25/21

One of the bills coming out of the Wyoming Legislature’s agriculture committee seeks to help farmers in the state recover some of the money they lost on crops. State Sen. R.J. Kost, R-Powell, …

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Kost highlights hemp, ag relief bills for session

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One of the bills coming out of the Wyoming Legislature’s agriculture committee seeks to help farmers in the state recover some of the money they lost on crops. State Sen. R.J. Kost, R-Powell, who sits on the panel, said the bill will utilize some leftover CARES Act dollars. That money was unavailable to farmers earlier because their harvests were not completed — and without the completed harvest, they couldn’t tally their losses.

“Now that those crops are in and they [farmers] can project their losses, we are trying to get them reimbursed for those losses,” Kost said. That bill, Senate File 50, has cleared the Wyoming Senate and is now in the House. It is worth about $40 million to the affected producers.

Another bill Kost put to the judiciary committee is aimed at those who would smoke hemp. Because the aroma of hemp is nearly identical to that of marijuana, its THC-laden and illegal cousin, it’s causing headaches for police departments. THC is the substance that may cause a high in marijuana; hemp is defined as a cannabis plant with less than 0.3% THC. CBD oil is derived from either plant. 

Kost’s bill, Senate File 90, would require those who smoke hemp to do so in private settings.  The bill also institutes penalties on those who would sell the substance to anyone under the age of 21. Those penalties are the same as those applied to the sale of tobacco products to minors. It also makes it illegal for anyone less than 21 to smoke the substance. Kost joked that, before the bill was introduced to clean up the language, 5-year-olds could smoke hemp.

The Legislature will heat up its schedule next week when it returns to an in-person session in Cheyenne.

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