It took years for Nevada County to craft a cannabis growing ordinance, but the cousin of cannabis, the hemp plant, is not likely to get the same treatment. As expected, the Board of Supervisors extended a moratorium on industrial hemp cultivation for one year. That pleases cannabis grower Patricia Rockwell, who says cross pollination of hemp plants with cannabis is not a good thing…

Hemp looks and smells like cannabis, but does not contain T-H-C like marijuana does-the chemical that gets you high. As an urgency ordinance, this was the final time that the county could extend the hemp ban, and staff wanted direction on what to do after that. Supervisor Dan Miller then spoke up…

Miller’s reasoning is that would make things easier on law enforcement. The board voted unanimously to direct staff to create an ordinance which would make the ban permanent. No one spoke in favor of growing hemp during yesterday’s meeting.

–gf