Arizona Hemp Industry Ready To Take Off If Governor Ducey Signs Bill

May 9, 2018
AggregatedNews
Hemp Policy & Legal
0 Comments

Governor Doug Ducey, one of the state’s most aggressive cannabis-legalization opponents, may be ready to make Arizona one of the country’s leading producers of hemp.

The state Legislature passed a far-reaching commercial hemp bill, SB 1098, over the last few weeks of the 2018 session and sent it to Ducey after adjournment on May 4.

If the governor signs it, or if he doesn’t veto it by May 14, Arizona will become the 35th state to make hemp legal under state laws, and the 11th to approve commercial hemp cultivation and sales.

Ducey’s spokesman, Daniel Scarpinato, said on Tuesday he did not have a schedule for when the governor may or may not sign the bill.

Ducey helped raise millions of dollars to defeat an adult-use cannabis ballot measure in 2016. But the bill’s main sponsor and proponent, State Senator Sonny Borrelli, said he doesn’t anticipate a veto.

Like Ducey, the Republican senator from Lake Havasu City opposes adult-use cannabis legalization. But in the past two years, he’s been a tireless supporter of legal hemp, which is a type of cannabis that has no psychoactive properties. [Read more at Phoenix New Times]

This Post Has 0 Comments

Recent Stories

Pot Industry High on Florida’s Marijuana Legalization Referendum

Voters will now get to decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana in a state that has a well-established medical pot marketplace. When the Florida Supreme Court earlier this month approved a November referendum on…

US Marijuana Industry Hits All-Time High

The legal cannabis industry is thriving in the U.S., reaching its highest-ever number of jobs and sales, a new report shows. Vangst, a cannabis industry job platform, found that at…

Black market marijuana tied to Chinese criminal networks infiltrates Maine

Maine is the newest frontier for the illicit marijuana trade, with potentially hundreds of suspected unlicensed grow houses operating in the state, a CBS News investigation has found. It’s part…

Iowa’s medical marijuana program is 10 years old. How does it compare with other states?

Ten years ago this month, Iowa policymakers made it legal to use cannabis for certain medical treatment, marking the start of what would eventually become Iowa’s existing medical cannabidiol program.…