Eugene weekly., April 19, 2018, Image 13

NEWS
BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
ACTING ON HEMP
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley push for legalizing pot's relative
P H O T O BY T R A S K B E D O R T H A
E
ver sat around, smoked a bowl and, as your high
mellowed you out, decided maybe that dude you’ve
been arguing with isn’t so bad after all?
Hemp, marijuana’s sober cousin, can appar-
ently have that same effect on politicians, without
the high. On April 12 (in plenty of time for 4/20) Repub-
lican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ken-
tucky teamed up with Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley to introduce The Hemp Farming Act of 2018.
Often at odds over policy, the three politicians came to-
gether for the bipartisan S. 2667, which would legalize the
cultivation of industrial hemp and would remove it from its
classification as a Schedule I drug.
On a federal level, hemp and marijuana are not distin-
guished from one another. Hemp currently sits on the list
of controlled substances with heroin and ecstasy, Wyden
tells Eugene Weekly.
“It’s an outdated policy,” he says, “and defies common
sense.”
He adds that if you are smoking hemp, “it’s a waste
of your time and lighter fluid.” Hemp has less than one
• St. Vincent de Paul Society of
Lane County’s Metamorphose: Up-
cycle Fashion Show is Saturday April
21. The day of environmental compe-
titions, activities for adults and kids,
seminars, entertainment, vendors
and more, begins at noon and ends at
9 pm. Organizers say, “The Meta-
morphose competition, along with
the BRING and MECCA events, raises
public awareness of the potential for
creative reuse of salvaged materials.”
The fashion show itself and awards
ceremony begins at 6 pm. Former TV
anchor and seemingly obsessive self-
videographer Rick Dancer will judge
along with Mitra DeMirza, SVdP’s
resident artist, designer of its signa-
ture ENVIA fashion line and founder
of Metamorphose. All events are free
from noon to 5 pm. Admission to the
fashion show is $6 for adults and $4
for children and seniors.
• Local author and harpist Mary
percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the part that
gets you high.
The Hemp Act builds on some of the gains for cannabis
sativa in the 2014 Farm Bill, which included a provision al-
lowing states to develop industrial hemp pilot projects for
research purposes. Wyden, McConnell and Merkley also
worked together on that bill.
Wyden says he was compelled to pursue hemp legaliza-
tion after a shopping trip with his wife to a Portland Cost-
co, where he saw hemp hearts for sale. Hemp hearts are the
edible inside of hemp seed, and Wyden says the package
touted their benefits — a good source of proteins, good for
one’s blood pressure and “a parade of good health traits,”
the senator says, but not grown in Oregon or anywhere else
in the country. Oregon does have some laws allowing for
industrial hemp production.
“If you can buy it at a supermarket in Oregon, you
should be able to grow it in Oregon,” Wyden says. “Farm-
ers in China are laughing all the way to the bank.”
High Times Magazine, citing the South China Morning
Post, reported in 2017 that “a small number of Chinese
DeMocker celebrates the release of
her new book, The Parents’ Guide to
Climate Revolution: 100 Ways to Build
a Fossil-Free Future, Raise Empow-
ered Kids, and Still Get a Good Night’s
Sleep with a foreword by Bill McKib-
ben at 6:30 pm Thursday, April 19,
at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette.
Democker says, “I’ve lived in Eugene
30 years, am an alum of the UO music
school, have a kid in the local high
school, co-founded a thriving climate
recovery organization (350 Eugene)
and am releasing a book on the eve of
Earth Week that has been endorsed
by some of the top climate champions
on the planet.”
• Also on Saturday, April 21, is
the Eugene Family YMCA Healthy
Kids Day offering “pickleball, an
obstacle course, swimming, educa-
tional activities, healthy food booths,
give-a-ways, raffle prizes and valet
provinces, including Heilongjiang, near the Russian bor-
der, and Yunnan to the south, now make up nearly half of
the world’s legal hemp cultivation.”
According to Wyden, American farmers have been
pushing for hemp legalization “and have been for some
time.”
The Hemp Act would also advance research oppor-
tunities, according to the Hemp Industries Association,
which says that “passage of S. 2667 will affirm the uses
of hemp products, which are non-intoxicating, and open
the door to research opportunities in the sector of CBD and
animal product applications, and beyond.”
CBD is short for cannabidiol, which has shown prom-
ise as a treatment for children with seizures. And Colorado
State’s Veterinary Teaching hospital is currently enrolling
dogs in a study on the “efficacy of cannabidiol for the treat-
ment of epilepsy in dogs.” CBD does not get you high.
Wyden says he will push hard to get the Hemp Act add-
ed to this year’s Farm Bill. He says farmers see hemp’s
illegality as anti-famer, anti-jobs, anti-business and anti-
common sense. ■
bike parking to motivate and inspire
families to develop healthy routines
throughout the year.” The Y says,
“This year’s event, which falls on
Earth Day, will promote bike safety
and awareness with bike registra-
tion, helmet fittings and more. The
event runs 10 am to noon at 2055
Patterson Street; parking is available
across the street at South Eugene
High School.
• 350 Eugene and Community
Rights Lane County are offering
Decolonizing Our Activism 6 pm,
Thursday, April 26, at First United
Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street.
The workshop will “explore how to be a
good ally and form partnerships with
the traditional stewards of this land.
We must break the chain of colonial
oppression of Native Americans,”
according to 350 Eugene. It will be
presented by Sweetwater Nannauck
of Idle No More Washington. Registra-
tion and details at world.350.org/
eugene.
• Local sustainability efforts
will be highlighted at the Corvallis
Sustainability Coalition’s quarterly
gathering noon to 1:30 pm Friday,
April 27, at the Corvallis-Benton
County Public Library. The gathering
features presentations by Brad Attig
of Corvallis Foundry, Kerstin Colón of
Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center
and Erik Swartzendruber of the Willa-
mette Valley Regenerative Landscap-
ing Coalition, highlighting what their
organizations are doing to help create
a sustainable community. There
will also be a presentation by David
Eckert, leader of the Sustainability
Coalition’s Water Action Team, about
the team’s current projects, including
the upcoming Lamprey Creek Tour.
eugeneweekly.com • A pril 19, 2018
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