| ||||||||||
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... |
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer: Enough is enough On the afternoon of May 14, 2014, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture filed suit against the federal government. Enough is enough. Personal Commentary and Opinion of Kentucky Department of Agriculture Commissioner James Comer Click on headline for complete comment with photo By KY Agriculture Commissioner James Comer Personal Commentary of the writer The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is illegally preventing shipment of hemp seeds to Kentucky in clear violation of federal law. For weeks, we have dealt with unnecessary government bureaucracy, federal officials unwilling to discuss the law or answer questions, and delay ... after delay ... after delay. To understand what led to legal action, you have to know the journey. From the beginning, Kentucky has taken a legally responsible pathway to re-introducing industrial hemp to our agricultural economy. We did everything "by the book" and in record time. We revived the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission, pulled together an unprecedented bipartisan coalition, passed a landmark state law legalizing hemp production in Kentucky and traveled to Washington and worked with our congressional delegation to change federal law. The Agricultural Act of 2014, signed into law by the President of the United States in February, authorizes states where hemp production is legal to carry out research pilot programs "notwithstanding any other federal law." A couple of weeks ago, a 250-pound shipment of hemp seeds meant for legal Kentucky hemp pilot programs was imported from Italy to Chicago. The shipment cleared customs in Chicago, but then, in an arbitrary and capricious about-face, the DEA seized the seeds when they arrived in Louisville. We negotiated for their release for days, and we thought we had the matter resolved. But then, DEA attached conditions to the release of the seed requiring the department to obtain a Schedule 1 controlled substances research registration and prohibiting private farmers with sites duly certified by and registered with the department from participating in the pilot programs. When we confronted the DEA about this, the response was, "Make a counter-offer." To be clear: We will not negotiate on the law, we will not call industrial hemp a drug when it is not, and we will not exclude farmers from participating in pilot programs. And we shouldn't have to. We worked so hard to set our state apart as the most responsible place for manufacturers and processors to locate. In a show of bipartisan support, our Democratic attorney general, Jack Conway, issued a letter agreeing that the farm bill allows production and sale of industrial hemp for research purposes. And after all this, the DEA arbitrarily intervenes into a perfectly legal process in Kentucky, all the while turning a blind eye to marijuana production in Colorado, where it's been said there are more marijuana stores than Starbucks. This is a classic case of government overreach -- a single agency making the rules to suit itself, applying those rules inconsistently, and refusing to be held accountable to the will of the people. We could just throw our hands in the air, scrap the pilots, and blame Obama. But Kentucky deserves this opportunity, and we are uniquely suited to take on this challenge for the rest of the country. We have a rich tradition with industrial hemp and an extremely knowledgeable and supportive agriculture community that the federal government is underestimating in this case. We've come so far -- and we aren't turning back now. Whatever the outcome, this is a fight worth having for every other state, industry, small business owner, or individual citizen that has endured this bureaucratic nightmare. Enough is enough. - James Comer This story was posted on 2014-05-17 02:56:43
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic Commentary:
Chris Oliver: Local laws affect how I spend my money Ralph Waggener: Wet or Dry? Doesn't think industrial jobs have grown by C-ville being moist Shannon Sexton: Quality of Life high factor for industry location Andrew Cowan: Jobs more important issue than Wet/Dry vote Mother of child with food allergy concerned about menu choices Wet/Dry Petition: Writer says it's positive move for Adair John Chowning comments on what happens to pinwheels More speeding, noise pollution in this town, writer says Jarrett Miller: Alcohol sales not prevented by limiting where sold View even more articles in topic Commentary |
|
||||||||
| ||||||||||
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
|