Let's Talk Hemp

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  • My Time with Jack Herer, the “Emperor of Hemp”

    My Time with Jack Herer, the “Emperor of Hemp”

    By Andrew DeAngelo

    Industrial hemp was forgotten for decades until Jack Herer wrote his book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, in 1985. The story of that book being researched and written could fill many volumes. I only got to be with Jack on a small part of that journey when he did volume 2, and it went something like this:

    I graduated college in 1989, in the Los Angeles area, and I needed some weed to sell. Or I had some weed and needed to sell it, one of those two. My older brother, Steve, was a friend of Jack’s and knew he lived nearby. He hooked me up with the “Hemperor,” so I could carry on spreading the seed that would save the planet, a popular phrase of Jack’s in the book. It was how I made a living.

    I remember meeting him for the first time in a parking lot in the Valley. It was a hot, smoggy day that you could cut with a knife. I showed him the weed sample, or he showed it to me, and the discussions of a deal began to unfold. After the terms of the deal and the logistics of the transaction were settled, Jack was hungry and wanted to get a hot dog from a nearby stand.

    He ordered two dogs with everything and two more for me before I could let him know I didn’t eat meat. When Jack made a decision and began to voice it, there was no turning the man back, and it was virtually impossible to say no to him. I was only 21 at the time, Jack was already a legend, and I needed to sell or buy some weed from him.

    I ate the hot dog.

    Before I could finish two bites, he had finished both of his in the most exuberant eating habit I had ever witnessed before or since. Jack didn’t eat his food; he devoured it ravenously. And he talked the entire time he did so. He would spit out rather large pieces of food and get them all over his beard as he talked, or more accurately, preached. Then, without any warning at all, he grabbed one of my hot dogs, engulfed it and continued talking. He did not ask or even gesture if it was okay to eat my hot dog. Before I could protest, the hot dog was gone, and he was making a move for what was left of the one I was eating. Somehow, I fought him off and got the rest of it down my gullet.

    It was at this moment that I knew I was in the presence of a man possessed of divine madness. Jack was stone cold crazy and I damn near freaked out and ran away. The truth was, I was pretty crazy myself and that was what it took to stand by the cannabis plant in 1989, the way Jack and I did. You had to be a little crazy to take those risks and carry that message. There were plenty other ways to make a living, that’s for sure.

    That summer I worked on editing his book and creating the bibliography with him. Jack would insist on large doses of cannabis or other visionary plants as we worked. At the start, I tried to explain to him that this was fairly organizational work and it might be best not to consume those offerings, but that was quickly and ferociously rebuked, and we carried on high as kites.

    It took an enormously long time to finish the edit and bibliography but we eventually did.

    Andrew DeAngelo, like his brother Steve, has been a longtime cannabis and hemp advocate. He is Cofounder of California’s Harborside Health Center, and also served as VP of Ecolution, a hemp clothing company. As a former college professor, he taught theater and film at Chapman University. Andrew and his brother Steve were featured on the Discovery Channel reality TV series, Weed Wars.

  • Newsletter – July 30, 2020

    Newsletter – July 30, 2020

    Regenerative Ag: Healing the Planet with Hemp

    By Christina Sasser 

    The world as we know it is experiencing a time of great transformation. Climate change is now considered a major public health emergency by leading scientists around the world. The world needs a multifaceted approach to combat climate change, and one important way to do so is through radical adjustments to farming practices. According to a 2019 report from the U.N. Environment Programme, agriculture is currently the planet’s largest form of land use, occupying 40% of the earth’s surface and responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. Regenerative agriculture is a holistic system of farming principles that could change these trends. It seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem, actually “improving the resources it uses, rather than depleting them.”

    Regenerative agriculture is unique in its ability to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to also capture them through carbon sequestration, which is the longterm removal of carbon from the atmosphere. When plants photosynthesize, they take in carbon dioxide from the air and transform it into carbon that the plant uses to grow. The excess carbon created during this process is then transported through the plant and into the soil, where it can feed fungi and microbes, which in turn provides more nutrients for the plant. Carbon can remain stored in the soil for thousands of years or can be released back into the atmosphere through farming practices like plowing and tilling, in which soil is mechanically dug, stirred or turned. Project Drawdown, a global research organization that identifies, reviews and analyzes the most viable solutions to climate change, ranks regenerative agriculture as one of the top actions we can take to ensure we have a planet worth living on in the future.

    read full article here

    regenerative healing the planet with hemp

    To learn more about Vital Leaf‘s mission to heal the planet through regenerative hemp, visit here: https://vitalleaf.com/

    This article originally appeared in the Let’s Talk Hemp Summer Solstice 2020 Digital Magazine

    NEWS BRIEFS

    Troops Salute

    Navy Bans Topical Hemp Products, Doubling Down on CBD Prohibition

    By Marijuana Moment

    homeless person

    Project CBD Launches Hemp for the Homeless Campaign

    By Project CBD

    Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Sues Companies Over False CBD Endorsements

    By BBC News

    Magic Johnson

    Basketball Great Magic Johnson Jumps Into the CBD Court

    By WWD

    HEADLINE NEWS

    Colorado Hemp Industry Challenges CDA’s Selection of MJ Consultancy
    By CBD Today

    Experience Hemp Summer Solstice Conference Video Content Archive Now Available
    By Let’s Talk Hemp Media

    U.S. Hemp Roundtable Urges California Lawmakers to Support Hemp
    By U.S. Hemp Roundtable

    UC Riverside Researcher Develops Nontoxic, Climate Friendly Pulping Method that Converts Nearly 100% of the Hemp Plant into Usable Components
    By Seed World

    New Federal Program Aims to Help Labs Achieve Accurate THC, CBD Measurements
    By Hemp Grower

    Democrats Reject Marijuana Legalization in Party Platform
    By The Huffington Post

    Texas Ban on Retail Sale, Processing and Manufacturing of Smokable Hemp Goes Into Effect August 2
    By Texas Hemp Coalition

    Teen Who Changed Delaware MMJ Law Launches Virginia Hemp Farm
    By MMJ Daily

    Tobacco Multinational Altria, Beer Maker Anheuser-Busch Among Entities Newly Lobbying for CBD
    By Cannabis Wire

    FOOD, BEVERAGE & SUPPLEMENTS

    U.S. Hemp-derived CBD Market Projected to Grow 14% to $4.7 Billion in 2020
    By Food Navigator-USA

    CBD Formulation Shows Promise in Treating Dermatitis in Dogs
    By Hemp Gazette

    The Promise of CBG, the “Mother” Cannabinoid
    By HempToday

    Hemp 4 Heroes Employs Veterans in the CBD Industry
    By Shepherd Express

    FASHION, FIBER AND CONSTRUCTION

    Can Hemp Toilet Paper Save the World?
    By The Hearty Soul

    “A Hemp Story” Children’s Book Teaches Kids About “Grandpa’s Hemp Farm”
    By Ministry of Hemp

    French Natural Gas Company to Produce Non-polluting Fuel from Hemp
    By Born2Invest

    Levi’s Is Forging a Sustainable Path with Hemp
    By Smart Company

    FARMING AND AGRICULTURE

    USDA Grant Allows WVU Professor to Study ‘Hot’ Hemp Crops
    By Hemp Grower

    Chicago Tribune Features Husband and Wife Hemp Farmers
    By The Chicago Tribune

    Pur IsoLabs Owners Claim their Hemp Farm is the First of Its Kind in Texas
    By KENS5 CBS News, San Antonio, TX

    Louisiana’s First Industrial Hemp Crop Hit Hard by Southern Blight
    By Acadia Parish Today

    Researchers Request Grower Participation to Create Midwestern Hemp Database
    By Hemp Grower

    INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    Elixinol Global Decides to Keep Hemp Foods Australia After Seeing Improved Performance
    By The Market Herald Australia

    Uzbekistan Returns to Its Roots with Hemp Cultivation
    By Eurasianet

    Tasmanian Researchers Studying Hemp As Sheep Feed
    By Hemp Gazette

    Marketing of Hemp Products in Paraguay Could Begin this Year
    By HempToday

    Could Hemp Give the UK Economy a Much Needed Boost?
    By Leafie

    EVENTS

    Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets Webinar, Identification and Management of Disease in Hemp, July 30, 2020, Noon – 1:00 pm EDT

    Penn State Extension Hemp Webinar Series: Mid-season Q&A, August 10, 2020, Noon – 1:00 pm EDT

    Penn State Extension Hemp Webinar Series: Planning for CBD Harvest, August 24, 2020, Noon – 1:00 pm EDT

    Hemp Industry Deep Dive Virtual Global Tour, by Cannatech, Aug. 4, 2020, 12:00pm EDT

    Cannabis Science – Taking Your Career to the Next Level, Webinar Presented by Maryland University of Integrative Health, August 11, 2020, Noon – 1:00 pm EDT

    WAFBA – We Are for Better Alternatives – Virtual Conference & Trade Show, Presented by NoCo Hemp Expo and Let’s Talk Hemp, Nov. 10-12, 2020; Details Coming Soon

    NoCo Hemp Expo – NoCo7, March 25-27, 2021, National Western Complex, Denver, CO

    Southern Hemp Expo, Aug. 20-21, 2021, Nashville, TN

    noco hemp expo 2021

    Read the Let’s Talk Hemp Summer Solstice 2020 Digital Magazine

    The hemp industry proves that, even in a world beset by pandemics and racial injustice, human and planetary healing can and will triumph. Read all about it in the Let’s Talk Hemp Summer Solstice 2020 Digital Magazine, produced in conjunction with the Experience Hemp Summer Solstice Virtual Conference & Trade Show, Let’s Talk Hemp Media, and NoCo Hemp Expo, in partnership with Honeysuckle Magazine.

    Featuring testimony from industry experts across diverse disciplines, Let’s Talk Hemp’s Summer Solstice edition dives into the pressing questions of the day. What is the future of hemp in a post-COVID world? What does Black representation in hemp look like, and how can we create opportunities for social equity? How can we take the next steps toward a regenerative society and integrative medicine? The answers may surprise you.

    Read the Let’s Talk Hemp Summer Solstice 2020 Digital Magazine Here.

    Order Your Copy of Doug Fine’s New Book, American Hemp Farmer

    doug fine

    American Hemp Farmer, the sixth book from author Doug Fine, follows the rigors and pleasures of an entire hemp season from soil preparation and genetics acquisition through harvest and regenerative marketing. It’s immersive. It’s wildly funny. The follow up to Doug Fine’s bestselling Hemp Bound, American Hemp Farmer pulls no punches, and because it is written by an actual hemp farmer and entrepreneur, it tells you what you need to know if you want to join the hemp renaissance.

    Order American Hemp Farmer Today

    Available at One Planet Hemp

    Subscribe to the Let’s Talk Hemp YouTube Channel

    #LetsTalkHemp is the ultimate platform that focuses on “Changing the Cannabis Conversation”. We provide news, education, and information about Hemp and Cannabis to our viewers so that they can learn more about the industry and get tips and tricks on the latest technologies. Subscribe to our channel and learn about everything from legal updates, farming, production, and new products entering the Hemp & Cannabis space.

    The Kannaboom Podcast

    Episode 50 – Morris Beegle, Musician and Hemp Entrepreneur

    We’ve known for decades that hemp is a versatile crop, useful for food, and as a textile, building material and biofuel. Yet because it’s related to cannabis, hemp has been shunned, its value denied. As we look for positive ways to recover from the pandemic, in the context of ongoing climate change, are we finally ready to realize the tremendous economic potential of hemp? We asked Morris Beegle, who has launched multiple hemp-based businesses across various industries, for his perspective.

    Listen, and learn:

    • How Morris made the pivot from a career in music into success as a hemp entrepreneur
    • Why hemp, a regenerative, sustainable crop, is a better alternative for the environment and consumers
    • How to succeed in the hemp industry, whether you want to find a job or start a company
    • Why musicians have been closely tied to cannabis / hemp
    • How Morris developed the first high-end hemp guitar

    Listen Here

     

    About Let’s Talk Hemp

    Let’s Talk Hemp is a publication of Colorado Hemp Company (a division of We Are For Better Alternatives) focused specifically on the subject of industrial hemp and cannabis. We present features and curate news from across the globe to share the benefits of cannabis on health, energy, manufacturing and planet (H.E.M.P.). Colorado Hemp Company also is the Producer of NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo, the nation’s leading hemp conferences and expositions.

    Publisher: Morris Beegle, Elizabeth Knight

    Editor: Steven Hoffman

    Web Developer: Debby West

    Design: Allen Haeger

    Circulation: Evan Tompros

    Contributor: Heather Collins

    Financial Officer: Lori Buderus

    Let’s Talk Hemp Podcast: Morris Beegle

    Send Us Your Hemp News!

    Send press releases and news announcements to news@letstalkhemp.com

  • Experience Counts: Colorado Hemp Industry Challenges CDA’s Selection of MJ Consultancy to Oversee State’s Hemp Center of Excellence

    Experience Counts: Colorado Hemp Industry Challenges CDA’s Selection of MJ Consultancy to Oversee State’s Hemp Center of Excellence

    Fort Collins, CO (July 15, 2020) – In the midst of a pandemic, economic uncertainty and the 2020 growing season for industrial hemp farmers, the Colorado hemp industry has united in protest to challenge the recent contract award to establish the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s (CDA) Hemp Center of Excellence (COE). This is the first time that the Colorado hemp industry and its leaders have come together to speak out against the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s decision to hire the Marijuana Policy Group (aka Marijuana Policy Group Consulting, Denver, CO) to actualize the Hemp Center of Excellence’s five year plan.

    In a letter to Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg, hemp industry leaders expressed concerns that the state’s hemp industry “will not accept any marijuana-related group contracted to management, planning, laying out a plan or facilitating stakeholders in the development and/or goals of the Hemp Center of Excellence.”

    In addition, the state of Colorado’s hemp business community is demanding that “the CDA begin/restart the contract process again in accordance with all state laws, rules, and regulations. We request the CDA directly include the Colorado hemp industry’s involvement by setting up a hemp stakeholders committee to establish rules and parameters for the selection criteria, which would be open to the public for full transparency.”

    State and national hemp industry leaders Tim Gordon, Morris Beegle and Veronica Carpio jointly said the issue is “not about creating a division of hemp and marijuana, but rather the concern of a fair process which includes hemp stakeholders, and immediate action by the CDA and Governor Polis.”

    According to the letter submitted on July 10, 2020, to the CDA and Colorado Governor Jared Polis, there are notable conflicts of interest with Ean Seeb (the Governor’s Special Advisor on Cannabis), the Marijuana Policy Group and the CDA that are of concern to the state’s hemp community. “We ask for a fair process and will support the contract being awarded to any group that has actual long-term experience working with hemp farmers and the hemp industry, which is distinctly different from how the marijuana industry conducts business,” said Veronica Carpio, founder of GrowHempColorado.com, author of the “Colorado Hemp Foods Bill,” one the first hemp seed breeders in the U.S., and the first female licensed hemp farmer.

    The Colorado hemp industry protest, prompted by a perceived lack of communication from the CDA about its decision making related to the Hemp Center of Excellence, has caused such concern that Morris Beegle, Co-founder of We Are for Better Alternatives, producer of the NoCo Hemp Expo, has considered moving the internationally recognized event elsewhere. “The Colorado hemp industry has worked hard for years to grow our industry as a national example and provide a proven track record in the development and actualization of economic value, industry integrity and regulatory oversight, with an emphasis on public safety front and center. We’ve worked to keep hemp regulations minimal compared to extensive marijuana rules and regulations through extensive legislative and bi-partisan support,” he said.

    The Colorado hemp industry is also very concerned about perception, Beegle points out. “Perhaps most importantly, we are concerned about how this direct tie to the marijuana industry will look to the USDA, FDA and DEA. Colorado could risk losing its leadership role in the U.S. related to hemp. Colorado’s hemp stakeholders need the USDA and the FDA to support the state’s efforts. This becomes more difficult when the CDA selects a marijuana stakeholder to lead the charge and build Colorado’s flagship institution, the Center of Excellence. In fact, we think decisions of this nature inadvertently support the DEA’s desire to be actively involved in hemp plans at the state and federal levels, which is a giant step back for the hemp industry in Colorado.”

    Hemp industry advocate, business owner, researcher and farmer Tim Gordon said, “We absolutely welcome Marijuana Policy Group to the table for its input, but we are all in unison in the fact that any MJ policy group cannot and should not lead the hemp industry forward in development of the hemp Center of Excellence.

    Centers of Excellence, established by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and state Departments of Agriculture, are created for the purposes of carrying out research, extension and education activities related to the food and agricultural sciences.

    In challenging the appointment of the Marijuana Policy Group to manage the state’s COE, Colorado’s hemp industry leaders also emphasized in the letter to CDA their acknowledgement of the support Colorado Governor Jared Polis has shown to the state’s hemp industry. “We recognize the ongoing support and efforts by Governor Polis for industrial hemp on a national level and specifically here in Colorado,” they said. “He has always valued and acted upon our input and what is best for the hemp industry as a whole, and never for a single self-serving interest which is a rare, unique and a highly regarded asset to the Colorado hemp industry.”

    About We Are for Better Alternatives (WAFBA)

    We Are for Better Alternatives, parent to Colorado Hemp Company and producer of the 7th Annual NoCo Hemp Expo (NoCo7), is a leading organization for the advancement and advocacy of hemp farming, processing, production, innovation, education, policy and legalization in the USA. The entire team is committed to researching, developing and reporting on alternatives so that hemp can once again thrive, prosper, and help individuals and communities throughout America and around the globe. Visit www.wafba.org.

    Contact

    Morris Beegle, Colorado Hemp Company, 970.541.0448, mo@cohempco.com

    Veronica Carpio, Grow Hemp Colorado, 720.401.5609, info@growhempcolorado.com

    Tim Gordon, Functional Remedies, 970.238.0969, t.gordon@functionalremedies.com

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