This morning Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear made an official announcement that he’ll be allowing a measure legalizing industrial hemp to become law. Both the state’s Senate and House, after heavy debate, passed the measure (Senate Bill 50) over the past several we eks, putting it in the hands of the governor to either veto the bill, sign it into law, or ignore it: he’s taking the latter option, meaning it will officially pass into law after April 6th.

The measure’s passage comes with the support of Kentuckians, with recent polling showing that 65% in the state support legal hemp production.

The measure puts Kentucky, as with the other 8 states that have legalized hemp, directly against the federal government, which considers hemp a schedule 1 drug. However, U.S. Senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnel, both from Kentucky, have stated that they’d work at granting the state a federal waiver to grow hemp if the measure passes.

Kentucky legalizing hemp will add further weight to federal efforts to end hemp prohibition currently being discussed in America’s House and Senate.

– TheJointBlog