So What's The Legal Side Of Cannabis Besides Medical Reasons?

2009.04.03

When it comes to Canadian law one has to wonder what spurs them into making their decisions when it comes to what is legal regarding cannabis and what is not. It would seem that if a convenient money making use can be found for it then parliament is quick to act on making the necessary changes to the relevant act.

Between 1996 and 1998 there were modifications to the various acts to decriminalize the low 9THC cannabis, which in common terms is industrial hemp.

Then the grand announcement was made in the Health Canada publication in 1998 to allow for legal cultivation of hemp for industrial purposes. Now finally the regulations were set in place for those that were interested in growing hemp of course for industrial purposes.

It wouldn’t appear that anything was left out of these newly founded regulations. They covered the rules for controlled production and processing. Then there is the exporting and importing rules as well. Not to forget about the sales, movement and processing issues that was addressed. Not only do these regulations pertain to the actual hemp but also to hemp products. Now an exception to these rules and regulations it would seem that the harvest hemp straw is not a controlled substance, provided it is free from foliage.

Therefore, to make this clear the straw is not controlled but the hemp grain sure is. In order to be involved with any purchase of the cannabis seeds strictly for hemp mind you must be licensed. There are also licenses for commercial field production of over 4 hectares along with some other various categories.

So for those street users of grass, pot, hash, weed or any other street cannabis this new revelation of hemp is of no value to you. If you are into hemp though you will be pleased to learn that food products can be processed for your consumption but must be made from hemp seed that does not exceed 10ppm of the delta 9 THC.

The USA has not been so liberal in their thinking and only Hawaii has been able to have their research efforts in this area licensed.

The government makes it very clear that hemp is not the same as marijuana. They have the same background but not the same characteristics. The major differences are that hemp has a very low THC level where marijuana has a much higher content. You can get high of off the pot, but not off the hemp. It’s true that the leaves of marijuana and hemp look similar but that’s as far as the similarities goes.

Marijuana has high level of THC in comparison to the Hemp. The leaves look similar but thats as far as the common characteristics go.

 So if you know of someone who’s thinking about trying to rip off a few stalks of hemp, it certainly is going to be of much value to them.