Baltimore County neighbors want restrictions on industrial hemp farming

February 25, 2020
AggregatedNews
Maryland
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Some Baltimore County residents have complained for months of an overpowering stench coming from an industrial hemp farm. They said the odor would cling to their clothes, cause headaches and drift through open windows.

The farm, tucked off Broadway Road between Greenspring Avenue and Falls Road, reeked from late July or early August until early November, when the plant was harvested, and now nearby residents say they’re worried about the next growing season.

Besides the smell, several neighbors said they worry about the possible health effects of inhaling the fumes from hemp, a variety of the cannabis plant, but without the active ingredient of marijuana, that can be used in an array of commercial products, including clothing fibers and CBD oil.

The neighbors who asked to remain anonymous said they were not opposed to industrial hemp. Rather, the group wants the county or the state to impose restrictions that would prohibit industrial hemp farming within two miles of a residential area. The Broadway farm is surrounded by suburban homes, just north of Stevenson, between Lutherville-Timonium and Owings Mills.

The odor is “kind of a skunky marijuana smell,” said Mark Holland, a professor of biological sciences at Salisbury University.

Holland and a colleague have partnered with more than 20 farms across the state to grow industrial hemp — growers during the pilot program needed to link with a university conducting research to qualify to grow the crop. [Read More @ The Washington Post]