hemp Archives - Colorado Central Magazine

Confessions of a Hemp Farmer, Pt. 4

October 8, 2019 by Mike Rosso

By Ed Berg Winston Churchill is said to have described human history as, “… just one damned thing after another.” He could have been a farmer. Last month’s installment included complaints about partners, weather and water, which must be familiar to any farmer or rancher and can only make for boring reading. I’d gotten myself …

From the Editor – About the Cover

November 20, 2015July 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

by Mike Rosso The photo of a hemp plant gracing this month’s cover was taken at a farm in Cañon City in mid-June. We chose this photograph to illustrate our article about this particular strain of cannabis, also legalized by Colorado’s Amendment 64 in 2012, but containing little if any of the psychoactive components found …

Hemp: Colorado’s Next Big Thing

November 11, 2019July 1, 2015 by Mike Rosso

By Mike Rosso

Colorado voters made history in 2012 when they passed Amendment 64, allowing for the cultivation, sale and personal use of marijuana.

But easily overshadowed by its sexier cousin was the part of that ballot initiative that also allows for the growing and processing of industrial hemp. Although 64 did not authorize the immediate cultivation of hemp, it directed the General Assembly to enact legislation regarding it. With sponsors Rep. Don Coran and former Sen. Gail Schwartz, they passed SB13-241, the Industrial Hemp Growers Registration DOA, which was signed into law by Gov. Hickenlooper in May 2013.

Hemp, like marijuana, is derived from the cannabis plant, but contains little if any of the psychoactive components of the popular recreational drug. What hemp does provide is an endless number of commercial, industrial and medical benefits from the entire plant – from stem to seed. It also requires fewer pesticides for growth than most major food crops and requires considerably less water than crops such as corn.

Hemp is currently legal in many other parts of the world including most of Europe. Russia, Japan, Thailand, Chile, India and Canada are among many others that produce industrial hemp, but the leading producer of in the world is – who else? – China.

Colorado’s Historic Amendment 64

December 1, 2012December 1, 2012 by Mike Rosso

By Mike Rosso

Election day in Salida was unusually bright and sunny. Since I’d already voted by mail, I decided to spend some time sipping coffee in the sun outside Café Dawn, chatting up some of the customers and passersby.

I started asking random folks how they voted, not on the general election – around which there was much anxiety – but how they voted on Amendment 64. “Which one was that?” was a common response, and when I mentioned it was about the statewide legalization of marijuana, most relaxed and their answers came as a surprise.