Dr.Bronner's joined our partners from the Hemp Industries Association, Vote Hemp, and Hemp History Week last month in Colorado to mark the first industrial hemp harvest in the U.S. in over 50 years.

We toured the farmer's field, talked to him about the varieties of industrial hemp he grew and discussed the opportunity American farmers have earned to grow hemp in states that have passed industrial hemp farming legislation.

According to Vote Hemp, the lead hemp advocacy organization in the US working to restore hemp to American farms, while hemp is still  technically considered to be marijuana under federal law, an important memorandum issued on August 29 by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the federal government's law enforcement arm, stated the DOJ intends to respect state marijuana laws as long as they don't have a negative impact on children and other priorities outlined in the memo.

Since industrial hemp is a non-drug agricultural crop that poses no risk whatsoever to children or anyone else, this new DOJ memo is being interpreted by a number of states as a green light for them to begin licensing farmers to grow hemp on US soil without fear of prosecution under federal drug laws.

There is still work to be done in pushing for a law change at the federal level, and Dr. Bronner's remains committed to supporting the industry until we see thousands of acres of hemp grown nation-wide.

But, we are thrilled at the prospect that states like CO, VT, KY, OR and now CA, who passed hemp farming legislation on September 28, will begin issuing licenses next spring.

This experimental Colorado crop was a small symbolic step in the bigger process of rebuilding the US industrial hemp infrastructure, but we believe from this crop big things are yet to come.  When industrial hemp is fully recommercialized in the US and American farmers once again farm this sustainable and profitable agricultural crop, we anticipate costs of hemp seed and fiber to come down significantly.  Also with the drug stigma removed and businesses assured of a stable regulatory environment free from government harassment, we expect to see a whole new wave of hemp related entrepreneurship, R&D and product development.

Dr. Bronner's has worked hard for 15 years to see this harvest, through our financial and organizational support of Vote Hemp and the Hemp Industries Association, as well as personal activism that included planting hemp seeds on the DEA's lawn in 2010 and harvesting hemp plants in front of the White House in 2012. 

You can learn more why it is so important to recommecialize hemp in the US by checking out the new documentary Bringing it Home.

Thank you for supporting Dr. Bronner's activism.  Together we can get it done.

ALL-ONE!

David Bronner

President

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps

Colorado Hemp Harvest with Vote Hemp team members, David Bronner and Dr. Bronner's team members.