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Vote Hemp to Hold Press Conference to Discuss Passage of Hemp Farming Legalization in the 2018 Farm Bill

Hemp Movement Leaders from Around the Country Gather to Celebrate Decades of Hemp Advocacy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vote Hemp, the nation’s leading grassroots hemp advocacy organization working to change state and federal laws to allow commercial hemp farming, will hold a press conference on January 7, 2019, at the Eaton Hotel in Washington, DC, to discuss the legalization of hemp farming in the U.S., per Section 10113 titled ‘Hemp Production’ in the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp movement leaders from the past 30 years of hemp farming advocacy will gather to discuss the long history of their collective efforts, and the future of hemp farming, state policy, and the evolving hemp consumer market in the U.S.

WHAT:  Press Conference on Hemp Farming Legalization in the U.S. per the 2018 Farm Bill
WHEN:  Monday, January 7, 2019
Press Conference 2pm – 4pm
Reception to Follow
WHERE: Eaton Hotel | Ballroom
1201 K Street NW, Washington DC 20005
WHO: Hemp Advocacy Leaders from Across the Country, Including:
Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp; David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s; Mike Lewis, Kentucky Hemp Farmer; Courtney N. Moran LL.M, founder of Earth Law LLC; Alex White Plume, Hemp Farmer and Former President of the Oglala Sioux Lakota Tribe; Joseph W. Hickey Sr., Director of Corporate Relations Atalo Holdings; Franny Tacy, North Carolina Hemp Farmer and Founder of Franny’s Farmacy; and many others.
* Media are encouraged to attend, please RSVP to Lauren@votehemp.com
Or, RSVP via the following link: https://bit.ly/2Ux9X9E

Founded in May of 2000, Vote Hemp is the longest standing, leading national single-issue non-profit organization dedicated to the revival of a free market for commercial hemp farming and manufacturing of hemp products in the U.S. In its nearly two decades of advocacy, the organization has been pivotal in the creation of policy at both the state and federal levels, educating the public about the benefits of hemp through the creation of the Hemp History Week campaign, and engaging in numerous crucial legal battles to defend U.S. hemp businesses and the American hemp market. Notable victories for hemp that Vote Hemp played a key role in achieving in recent years include: The DEA Hemp Food Rules Challenge (2004); The North Dakota Hemp Controversy (2009); Inclusion of Sec. 7606 “The Legitimacy of Hemp Farming” in the 2013 Farm Bill; Legal Defense of Alex White Plume (2002 – 2016); and The DEA Marijuana Extracts Rule (2018). For more information about these landmark moments in the history of Vote Hemp’s advocacy, please visit: https://www.votehemp.com/legal_cases.html.

Vote Hemp has consulted with state agriculture officials and calculated that approximately 77,731 acres of hemp crops were planted in 23 states during 2018 in the U.S., 40 universities conducted research on hemp cultivation, and 3,544 State hemp licenses were issued across the country. Data from market research by Hemp Business Journal supports an estimate of total retail sales of hemp food, supplements and body care products in the United States at $553 million. Sales of popular hemp items like non-dairy milk, shelled seed, soaps and lotions have continued to increase, complemented by successful hemp cultivation pilot programs in several states, and increasing grassroots pressure to allow hemp to be grown domestically on a commercial scale once again for U.S. processors and manufacturers. Hemp Business Journal has also reviewed sales of clothing, auto parts, building materials and various other products, and estimates the total retail value of hemp products sold in the U.S. in 2017 to be at least $820 million. The United States is the largest consumer market for hemp products in the world.

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Vote Hemp is a national, single-issue, non-profit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and a free market for industrial hemp and to changes in current law to allow U.S. farmers to once again grow the agricultural crop. More information about hemp legislation and the crop’s many uses may be found at www.VoteHemp.com.