Fort Collins craft brewer New Belgium Brewing, which recently released a hemp-based beer, has joined with Willie Nelson’s cannabis company GCH and a hemp advocacy group to launch the American Hemp Campaign.
The campaign, which will work to change laws to allow commercial hemp farming in the United States, will launch on the Fourth of July, according to a press release from the Vermont-based Vote Hemp advocacy organization.
According to the release, the farming of hemp — a relative of marijuana that has low levels of psychoactive THC and is grown for its oil and fibers — is still heavily restricted in the U.S.
Hemp production is legal in Colorado but regulated by the state Department of Agriculture. The plant has a wide range of uses, including rope, cloth, paper, construction materials, food, oils and lotions, including products containing CBD oil, which is believed to have health benefits.
“At New Belgium, we launched a hemp-based beer, The Hemperor HPA, this spring, and the regulatory hurdles to get to market just seemed outrageously outdated and onerous,” New Belgium CEO Steve Fechheimer said in the release.
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