In November 1994, Governor Brereton C. Jones' launched the Kentucky Hemp and Related Fibers Task Force. Jones decided a task force should investigate the feasibility of raising hemp "after several of Kentucky’s pro-hemp supporters approached him." Jake Graves, along with agricultural leaders from across the state, were appointed members of the task force designated to:
1. Identify and report on the current legal use and potential legal use of hemp and related fiber crops for commercial enterprise purposes.
2. Provide an overview of the historical uses of hemp and related fiber crops prior to 1937, as well as its contemporaneous legal use in other countries and corresponding programs for monitorization.
3. Identify methods of selective breeding of hemp plants and related fiber crops for the purpose of removing or producing low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol.
4. Identify and report on companies in the United States which are currently using in their manufacturing process hemp based and related fiber crops.
5. Determine the marketability and economic competitiveness of products which are produced from hemp and related fiber crops and identify the technology needed for growing and processing the plants.
6. Work with the executive and legislative branches on legislation, policies, and programs for promoting a concerted effort to seriously look at and examine hemp and related fiber crops production as a supplemental crop to tobacco And develop recommendations for research programs and budget request for the continued study and examination of the potential developmental uses for hemp and related fiber crops.
Unfortunately, the task force only met twice from 1994-1995 and the final report submitted in June 1995 concluded, "because Cannabis sativa L. is illegal in the United States, it would be impossible to develop an infrastructure for the production and marketing of industrial hemp until these issues are resolved." Many members were unsatisfied with the results. The article published in the Daily News below discusses the study and why task force members were unhappy with the outcome.
Ultimately the panel's chairman, and another prominent farmer, shut it down before one substantive meeting, calling hemp "a complete fraud.
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Sources
Gifford, H. (n.d.). Kentucky Hemp Museum Celebrates Crop’s Past. Retrieved December 3, 2015, from http://www.internationalhempassociation.org/jiha/jiha6218.html
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