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Hemp Oil
Hemp Oil
Walk into any legal dispensary, “head shop,” gas station or smoke shop, and you will find yourself facing a vast array of products featuring ingredients drawn from cannabis sativa, defined as an annual, dioecious herbaceous plant from the family Cannabinaceae that has been documented as a source of food and medicine throughout history.
These days the category’s plant members are better known as hemp, weed, marijuana and a host of other variants. Depending on the strain, it can be made into rope, animal bedding, pain-relieving topical salves and other uses, including illegal drugs. It has many variations, but what drives that last category is the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol—THC for short—that’s found in the plant or its byproducts. The breaking point begins at THC delta-9, in which levels beyond 0.3% push the plant over the line from a source of simple farm products into a Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin and other opioids, LSD, peyote, and other forbidden fruit.
At least that’s true in Wisconsin, one of 11 states where ganja isn’t legalized in any form. Those interested in “alternative” uses of cannabis already know that they need only skip across the border into Illinois, Michigan or Minnesota for an ample supply of legal reefer with its psychoactive characteristics in full bloom. Modern weed is stronger than it was a generation ago, its distribution government-controlled, and no longer quite the bargain it may have been in the past. And proceeds from its sale have been used to address critical fiscal needs in the states that have legalized its recreational use.
Taxable Income
And how much income would that mean were Wisconsin to take the plunge? According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin could gain as much as $166 million in additional tax revenue annually from legal recreational weed. As it stands now, annual tax revenue from Cannabis sales in Illinois totaled $417.6 million in 2023, of which $36.1 million came from Wisconsin residents shopping across the border. That’s a lot of recreational money to throw away to the home of the Chicago Bears.
But this is not an advocacy piece for cannabis legalization. That discussion is better argued by experts on both sides who know more about the topic and its medical and financial ramifications. Rather, this is more of a look at how cannabis got to where it is, where it might be going, and why so many products from “hard” sodas to healing salves containing cannabis extracts can be legally sold north of the Illinois border. Like much the confusion in today’s world, this one starts with ill-defined and insufficiently regulated government policy.
Potential THC
Enter the U.S. Farm Bill, a massive $400 billion umbrella bill updated every five years or so that helps fund corn subsidies, food assistance efforts, land conservation, and countless other agricultural programs. In the 2014 Farm Bill lawmakers split cannabis into two categories separated by the magic THC delta-9 line. The first category covered “industrial hemp”, used to make rope, carpeting, textiles, bio-plastics and the other utilitarian products mentioned earlier. That was the safe side of the line. Beyond delta-9, which bill drafters referred to as “marihuana,” requirements cover the same exact plant and even the same breed of cannabis depending on when it's harvested and what that date does to the plant’s potential THC content.
Confusing? Wait, this gets better. The 2018 Farm Bill covered all the same ground but further established the plants—the same ones classified both as hemp and “marihuana”—are legal to be grown and sold by anyone with a license to do so. It further expanded the definition of saleable hemp to any and all of its extracts as long as none of it registers higher than 0.3% THC.
On Nov. 16, 2023, President Biden signed an extension of the 2018 Farm Bill into law. All the covered programs were left in place and will be legal until the extension expires on Sept. 30, 2024. Whether or not there will be a new Farm Bill in place by year’s end remains to be seen.
Advocates for Hemp
Even prior to the recent extension, the revised laws opened the floodgates to growers across the country and the state, leading in part to the development of the Madison-based Wisconsin Hemp Farmers and Manufacturers Association, which advocates for hemp growers with an idea that market demand might someday drive the development of legal weed in the Badger State. Imprecise language within the two bills allow for “wiggle room”, experts say, that may someday help further that effort.
That could be a major cultural step for a state best known for its ice-cold Brandy Old Fashioneds and piping-hot cheese curds. However, that might not be as high a step as cannabis opponents think.
According to a Marquette Law School poll, released this past February, 86% of Wisconsin’s registered voters approve of legalizing medicinal cannabis, while 63% support full recreational use. Given that nationally sales from hemp-based products have grown to $2.7 billion in the past three years, the lack of recreational cannabis opportunities may continue to cost Wisconsin dearly, sending a significant amount in tax revenues up in smoke.
What’s your stance?
