Posted on 01/15/2020 11:00:11 AM PST by Red Badger
A hemp field near Fresno, Calif., is marked with a no trespassing sign that indicates the plant growing here is hemp, not marijuana. Photo courtesy of Fresno County Sheriff's Office
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EVANSVILLE, Ind., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Across the country, newly legal hemp plants are being mistaken for their close cousin, marijuana. And they're attracting thieves.
"They thought they stumbled upon the field of dreams," said Ashleigh Baldwin, a hemp grower in Coopersburg, Pa., who experienced two people stealing hemp from her fields last summer. "It really does look, smell and feel a lot like marijuana."
While a hemp is visually almost indistinguishable from a marijuana plant, the difference is that it doesn't contain enough THC to even generate a buzz.
"If you take this stuff and smoke it and you're trying to get high, it's not going to help you," said Iris Rogers, owner of Homestead Hemp, a hemp farm in Salem, N.Y., who also experienced thefts.
In Baldwin's case, both thieves were caught by local law enforcement. They were young, and she decided not to press charges.
"It's pretty funny," she said. "I can see the humorous side of it."
But not all farmers are laughing.
For years, hemp was outlawed in the United States because it so closely resembles marijuana. That all changed when Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed hemp from the list of banned narcotics and established a program for farmers to grow it.
This past spring, farmers all over the United States flocked to the new crop and planted more than 500,000 acres, according to Vote Hemp, a nonprofit hemp advocacy organization. Many invested their entire life's savings, hoping to get a foothold in the nascent market.
While the government recognized hemp plants as different from marijuana, thieves often are unable to see or smell that difference when it's growing.
From California to New York state, they have pilfered new fields of the stuff -- in some cases stealing truckloads of what they believed to be a Schedule 1 controlled substance.
"It is proving to be dangerous, too, because thieves are not only looking to steal what they believe to be drugs, but they often arm themselves with guns," Tony Botti, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff's Office in California, said in a statement.
A few miles east of Fresno, a hemp farmer came upon one such thief Sept. 27, according to the sheriff's office. The thief pointed a gun at the farmer before driving away. Days later, the same farmer found 15 to 20 people stealing hemp plants, the agency said. At least one had a gun.
Elsewhere in the country, new hemp growers have had similar experiences.
"I guess I just assumed that people would realize that 400 acres of plants that were totally visible from the road wouldn't be marijuana," said Will Weaver, a hemp grower in rural northern Indiana. "I was wrong."
Weaver said he and his partner caught 26 people attempting to steal their plants. They did not catch many more. The thefts became so frequent as the plants matured that he spent most nights patrolling his fields.
"I basically slept in my truck all summer," he said.
Weaver said he and his fellow farmers chased thieves -- guns drawn -- on foot and by car in the dead of night through fields and down dirt roads.
"One time, three of us pinned a car in and jumped out of our trucks, guns drawn," he said. The would-be thief, still in his car, rammed one of the trucks in an attempt to get away.
"People got pretty crazy," he said. "But what are you going to do, let them take your livelihood? I've got $1.2 million invested in this. I've got to protect it any way I can."
Weaver lost some 250 plants this season, which equates to between $25,000 and $75,000 in revenue, he said.
Next year, Weaver plans to hide his hemp plants far from any public road and plant several rows of corn around the perimeter of all his hemp fields. He hopes this will eliminate most of the problems.
But not all farmers are capable of hiding their fields. And hemp industry experts predict the number of acres of hemp will continue to grow as the industry expands in the coming years.
"I'm trying to combat it by education," said Rogers, of Homestead Hemp, a hemp farm.
"If you try and sell it as marijuana, that could get dangerous," she said. "People are going to get angry when they realize it's not marijuana. I don't recommend doing that."
Rogers said she expected some people to mistake her hemp field for marijuana.
"We put up signs" reading "Not marijuana; Under surveillance; No THC; Won't get you high," she said. The outcome: "It didn't really matter."
Rogers said she noticed clippings missing from plants during most of the summer before police caught two men attempting to get away with a larger haul. They were charged and ordered to pay restitution, she said.
But, she said, she'd feel a lot better if the thefts stopped altogether.
"I hope we're able to educate people," Rogers said. "This isn't what you think it is."
One of my friends comes from generations of tobacco farmers. This year it’s all about hemp. But he’s not in Sunday school much because he’s in the field guarding them from hemp thieves.
Trying to get high off those plants is like trying to get drunk on “alcohol free” beer. But the plants are pretty valuable for CBD, and he has a lot invested in them, so guard them, he does.
One is cannanis sativa. The other, known as hemp, is cannabis indiga.
Most believe that sativa is the only one able to get you high.
Most have also heard of, and/or smelled so-called 'skunk weed.' That's cannabis indiga. There are strains that have as much if not more THC than sativa.
So, when someone says you can't get high off hemp, they don't know what they're talking about.
I grow it in my garage. (Its legal here.) Not gonna lie, I liked it as a kid. Now my wife is on chemo it helps. Helps me fall asleep better than a shot.
But to be honest—it can be a bitch to grow to harvest. And it stinks if you dont have the ventilation right. I do it as much for the “gardening aspect” as I do smoking.
I understand its not for everyone. I don’t have kids in the house. Very few people know about it.
The best thing about decriminalizing hemp is the havoc it’s going to play on people selling real pot that have to compete with startups selling stuff they stole from a field or found growing in a ditch.
It depends on the strain of indiga. Some have as much if not more THC than cannabis sativa.
If you've heard of or smelled 'skunk' weed, that's cannabis indiga, also known as hemp.
250 plants at $25,000 to $75,000...that comes out to $100 to $300 per plant.
Expensive rope.
Almost identical. In fact, given time, one can convert to the other. One has a lot of CBD. The other has a lot of THC.
In fact, if THC is higher than .3% it’s considered marijuana. It’s kinda like if “non-alcoholic beer” has more than .5% alcohol, it is considered beer.
One of the guys here had his hemp plants tested and they came in at .6% THC. Technically, he could have been busted for growing marijuana. But to put it in perspective, it’s like having beer with a gravity of around .09%.
BTW, they have to constantly check on the plants to make sure they have no males. Male plants are worthless other than as a source of fiber, which actually is abnormally tough stuff.
I would think cotton would be cheaper.
The plants are around 6' tall and 5' wide. If it's being grown to produce CBD oil, that stuff is really expensive.....
Hemp is real pot. (cannabis indiga)
Street name is 'skunk' weed.
I get it. I’m from BC even before the the thought of legalizing it came to be. I have a family member deep in Kentucky who just shoots trespassers on his farm, and he’s done this multiple times..
The hemp stuff has been genetically engineered to have high CBD and low THC. I know in Canada you had to get it tested and certified.
Indica and Sativa, or any of the thousand cross breeds can get you high. But the stuff they grow for oil and rope are on the low side. You would have to smoke a lot of it. Most “pot people” know that. Stupid kids don’t.
Just another story of how you can’t fix stupid.
“Hemp was an important industrial crop back in the day. “
WWII.
It depends on the strain of indiga. Some strains of indiga have as much, if not more THC than sativa. (skunk weed)
My first round of 10 seeds cost about $9 a seed. I could get a replacement if it did not germinate. But they are expensive. And the “strains” cross the spectrum in terms of size and potency. From a “new industry” perspective—it is a fascinating culture.
Lots of hippies are getting blown out by the folks in the button down collars.
If you can’t trust your local drug dealer, who can you trust?.........................
They’ll all get emphysema trying to smoke it.................
I'm not sure how you know that, but I think you are late for your cooking session.
This is true. But the general opinion is that you can't get high off idica (hemp) which is incorrect. It all depends on the strain.
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