The Kansas House has given first-round approval to a bill that opens the door to growing industrial hemp.

Republican Representative Willie Dove says people have confused hemp with marijuana. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana, and hemp does not have enough THC to get a person high.

Dove says industrial hemp could give farmers a new, profitable crop to grow.

“But yet they’ve been held back just because of ignorance of what a product really is,” says Dove.



The bill would allow universities to study hemp and give the Kansas Department of Agriculture the power to issue growing licenses. The plant can be used to make products such as textiles, food and biodegradable plastics.