LAS VEGAS, July 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --CannaVest Corp. (OTCBB: CANV), a leading manufacturer and distributor of hemp and CBD-based products, donated and successfully delivered a shipment of industrial hemp seeds to Kentucky's Murray State University Pilot Cultivation Project. On May 12, 2014, the seeds were planted, and the project was hailed as the first legal hemp field in the United States under the 2014 Farm Bill. Similar shipments by different companies, have been seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which has resulted in State lawmakers and the Kentucky agriculture department taking court action against the Justice Department, the DEA, US Customs and Border Protection and attorney general Eric Holder to force return of the seeds. Today, KPBS reported in a NPR News interview with Chris Boucher, Vice President of US Hemp Oil, LLC (USHO), a subsidiary of CannaVest, that the DEA has seized a shipment of its industrial hemp seeds bound for a farm in Colorado at LAX. The online version of the NPR interview reports that USHO also will "challenge the DEA's latest seizure of its hemp seeds in court," and suggests that this type of political action will be needed to eliminate confusion between Congressional and federal agency enforcement, and to fully realize the potential of the 2014 Farm Bill, as well as the growth and competitiveness of a US hemp industry.
The February 2014 Farm Bill defines the industrial hemp plant as distinct from marijuana, which removes it from the 1970 Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and federally recognizes current State's cultivation statutes. US NEWS, reporting on the seizures, cited a federal law enforcement official, as saying the Department of Justice - DEA's parent agency - recognizes the law now allows hemp cultivation but existing procedures for importing items covered by the Controlled Substances Act must still be followed. An article in the Guardian revealed that due to Kentucky's agriculture authorities court action, the DEA eventually relented, issuing a permit under the CSA, to receive and distribute the seeds to the pilot projects. An LA Times Op-Ed notes that the real legal solution is the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), which would allow nationwide commercial hemp cultivation. It also reports that Kentucky Representative, Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is not waiting for another brouhaha over seed imports, and has proactively added an amendment to a bill that controls the DEA's budget to specifically protect imported hemp seeds from seizure. It passed the House on May 20, and must now be signed into law.
CannaVest Corp. President and CEO, Michael Mona, Jr., likens the situation to "buying a car you can't put gas into." He continues, "as a forward-looking company, we want to combine the ecological and economical benefits of hemp, and invest in American farmers, and in America's carbon-neutral future." Mr. Mona statesthat, "CannaVest is interested in creating companies and market infrastructure that could compete in global 'climate industries.'" Mr. Mona related that CannaVest Corp. established USHO to serve the fastest growing hemp import market, estimated at $550 Million - and with the passage of the Farm Bill, planned to transition the company into generating initial infrastructure for a domestic hemp cultivation and export industry; beginning with seed procurement and cultivation consulting, followed by investment in processing equipment and mills.
Citing from the US NEWS report, James Comer, Kentucky's State Agricultural Commissioner, recognizes a possible niche industry for the state, which suffered recent economic blows when Fruit of the Loom and Toyota moved jobs out of state. On June 25, 2014, Felipe Calderon, the current Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, addressed the Commission saying, the smart business response to climate change is to limit its impact by shifting to a low carbon economic model. To further support this point, in 2009, China's president, Hu Jintao demanded that Chinese farmers cultivate 2 million acres of hemp to replace pesticide-heavy cotton. And in 1998, Canada's government subsidized the seed cultivation phase of its now nearly $1 Billion industry.
USHO Vice President, Chris Boucher, who challenged the DEA in 2000, as Co-Founder of HIA, and in 1994 after planting the then first legal research field in the US in 50 years, said, "[b]elieve it or not, I thought within two years (of 1994) we would have a factory up and running, and there would be 10,000 acres" of US industrial hemp. Mr. Boucher also "hopes to one day get hemp not from Canada or France or China, but from a few miles away, in the Imperial Valley." An economically viable crop could provide an industry, for its residents, who the LA Times reports, have the country's second highest unemployment rate.
The full NPR Interview can be viewed at:http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/jul/21/meet-san-diegos-johnny-hempseed/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kpbs%2Ftv+(KPBS+TV%3A+Program+Hightlights)
About CannaVest Corp.
CannaVest Corp. (OTCBB:CANV), located in Las Vegas, Nevada, focuses on the procurement and wholesale of the hemp plant extract cannabidiol (CBD), and the development, marketing and sale of end consumer products containing CBD, which is refinedinto its own PlusCBD Oil'. Additionally, it resells raw industrial hemp product to third parties, acquired through supply relationships in Europe. Additional information is available from OTCMarkets.com or by visiting www.cannavest.com.
About CannaVest Laboratories, LLC (A Division of CannaVest Corp.)
CannaVest Laboratories a division of CannaVest Corp. (OTCBB:CANV) based in San Diego, California, facilitates cutting edge research on and develops pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and food products, containing cannabidiol (CBD) oil; and is the developer and manufacturer of CannaVest's own award winning pharmaceutical-grade PlusCBD Oil'. For more information visit: www.cannavestlabs.com.
About US Hemp Oil, LLC (A Division of CannaVest Corp.)
US Hemp Oil, LLC, a division of CannaVest Corp., located in San Diego, California, provides seed procurement, cultivation, processing, and production consultation; and equipment, to support US farmers, researchers and businesses to cultivate and process industrial hemp in the US. USHO, plans to build seed-processing mills and bring hemp based products to market. For more information, please visit: www.ushempoil.com
CONTACT: Chris Boucher, 949-510-9971, chrisboucher@cannavest.com
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