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."
https://www.leafscience.com/2017/10/16/indica-vs-sativa-whats-difference/
Selective breeding allows for a lot of variation Most of the weed sold now is hybridized. THC levels, CBD levels, photoperiod sensitivity, plant size and shape. Breeders have the bases covered for growing indoors, outdoors, at various latitudes....
“I’m far from an expert on Cannabis, but just how similar (taxonomy wise) are the two plants?”
identical until you get down to strains, which generally are not included in the official hemp taxonomy ...
“The industrial hemp though has a bigger beefier stalk for better fiber output.”
actually there are numerous industrial hemp strains besides the one for fiber, including stains specialized for producing large quantities of seed (which are used for food purposes and oil extraction purposes) and strains optimized for producing CBD without producing more than .03% THC; those latter strains are very small, generally reaching no more than 24” ... the CBD strains are what are really hot in Colorado right now, and farmers are growing it all around where i live ...
Similar, but you would be able to tell because the buds are only on females. You would not see male plants in a field of cannabis like that. And I cannot imagine growing a field of female plants outdoors—they would become rag-weed with the first good wind storm.”
imagine again ... around where i live, there are hundreds of acres of hemp being cultivated for CBD content, and every one of those plants is female, and for the same reason THC plants must be female-only, namely that’s the only way to force the plants to produce large quantities of resin ...
the two main strategies for female-only plants is cloning female plants and genetically manipulated seed strains that produce only female plants ...
Smoke Pot,
Smoke Pot,,,,
“No kidding. I can understand it if you have a medical condition for the pain but other than that, we aint in high school anymore... You know the saying “kids smoke pot, men drink booze”..”
actually, it’s CBD based medicines that are truly effective for pain and inflammation, NOT THC ones ... and CBD medications don’t make one high ...
“One is cannanis sativa. The other, known as hemp, is cannabis indiga.”
first, it’s cannabis indica, NOT indaga
AND it’s doubtful if cannabis indica is a separate species, and even if it were, industrial hemp is a variety of cannabis sativa:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_indica
https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/fiber/industrial-hemp
“The plants are around 6’ tall and 5’ wide. If it’s being grown to produce CBD oil, that stuff is really expensive”
the hundreds of acres of CBD strains grown in my neck of the woods are no more than 24” high and probably only about 12” in diameter at the base ..
Consider me edju-ma-Kated. Ha Ha.
“One is cannanis sativa. The other, known as hemp, is cannabis indiga.”
first, it’s cannabis indica, NOT indaga
You misspelled my misspelling. LOL!
AND it’s doubtful if cannabis indica is a separate species, and even if it were, industrial hemp is a variety of cannabis sativa:
Thanks for the lecture, Dad.
Had you read my subsequent posts before responding you would have seen I corrected my earlier incorrect posts.
FRegards,
“Had you read my subsequent posts before responding you would have seen I corrected my earlier incorrect posts.”
oops, son, you’re absolutely correct, i didn’t see your later posts, Dad.
Maybe if they don’t have glaucoma, the eyeballs deflate a bit and blur things up....;-)
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