Can Hemp, Long Overshadowed by Marijuana, Rise as an Industry?
Cliff Thomason left the real estate business last year to become something of a pioneer: a hemp farmer.
The Grants Pass, Oregon, man was the first in the state to legally grow hemp, after Oregon began licensing growers in 2014, joining 17 other states nationwide that have differentiated hemp from marijuana and set up separate regulatory systems for growing it. But Thomason is one of only 43 farmers in the state targeting their efforts at producing seed and fiber, as opposed to the cannabidiol oil extracted from hemp stalk and used both as a balancer of the psychoactive properties of marijuana and a purely medicinal product, easing symptoms from back pain to anxiety. In the booming cannabis industry, hemp has become a neglected stepchild.
“People are moving in a very singular direction,” says Thomason, who is running for governor as an independent. The number of farmers growing industrial hemp is...
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