Initiative 502 not only legalized marijuana possession – it opened the door for the industrial production of hemp. It could be a new cash crop for Washington farmers but not a lot is known about the potential market.

Hemp is an extremely versatile plant. It can be grown for its fiber in tall stalks or grown for its seeds. It can be used for rope, clothing, soap, food additives, oils and a variety of other products.

Voters might not have realized it, but I-502 allows for industrial hemp production, and many in the state are wondering how farmers can take advantage.

“It gives farmers some more options, and some of our farming communities have a need for that,” said Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles. She has sponsored a bill that would allow Washington State University do some research on potential uses, markets and profitability of a hemp industry. “We could make quite a bit of money here for our farmers,” she said. “It could be quite a lot of additional revenue coming to our state.”

There are some estimates that hemp could be a $300 to $450 million a year industry in America.

WSU’s Chris Mulick said no hemp would be grown under this bill because the plant is still illegal under federal law. It would be a dollars and sense analysis of whether the state would profit from its production.

“It’s not enough for a product to be profitable,” Mulick said. “It needs to be more profitable than an alternative crop that a grower might plant. So that’s the type of thing we’d be looking at.”

The research would also look at growing conditions here and whether hemp would thrive in Washington soil.

Eric Steenstra is President of Vote Hemp, a lobbying group in Washington D.C. looking to overturn the federal prohibition of the plant.

“I have no doubt that it could be grown in Washington,” Steenstra said. “It’s being grown across most provinces of Canada.”

Canada overturned its prohibition on hemp in 1998, and it is grown in British Columbia, though most of the production is in the plain provinces. It is a row crop that can be harvested like corn or wheat. Standard farming equipment can be used so there wouldn’t be a huge initial investment by many farmers.

So what’s the difference between hemp and marijuana? It all comes down to the amount of THC in the plant. THC is the intoxicating property of both cannabis plants. Hemp’s THC content is very low, less than three-tenths of one-percent. Marijuana, by comparison, can have 10 to 15 percent THC.

“If you take a hemp plant and you try to smoke it to get high, you’re not going to get anything but a headache,” Steenstra said. “There’s just not enough THC there. Nobody’s going to want to smoke hemp.”

If the legislature goes forward with this study of a possible hemp industry in Washington and it likes what it sees, it would then have to draft and pass a bill that would allow for its growth and production.