Believe it or not, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has been an enthused advocate for cannabis farmers in his state. But lately things are looking grim for the industry.
According to an in-depth story posted last year on Politico by reporters Mona Zhang and Paul Demko, farmers were enthused about the CBD craze and made the decision to switch a lot of their crops to hemp.
But things are not working out so great. Profits have lagged and the industry is suffering. A “gold rush mentality” the Politico reporters explain led to an oversupply and a drop in prices. CBD is not regulated by the FDA and the federal government still has it classified as a Class 1 narcotic like heroin and methamphetamine. And let’s not forget all the bogus companies that claim CBD oil is a perfect treatment for just about every illness there is, even the coronavirus.
Zhang and Demko write, “Farmers and manufacturers were lured into the industry after Congress passed the 2018 farm bill. It legalized cultivation of the crop, a low-potency sibling of marijuana. Hemp acreage in the U.S. more than tripled from 2018 to 2019 and Mitch McConnell was a driving force behind legalization.”