The Minority Cannabis Business Association stands in solidarity with the movement to end the racist murders of black and brown people at the hands of the police. 

Many of our members have experienced direct negative and dangerous interactions with police, the criminal justice system, and the power structures that perpetuate inequities in our communities through racially motivated policies like the war on drugs. 

The officers who murdered George Floyd joked “Don’t do drugs” before taking his life over an alleged forgery charge. When the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office filed the complaint against one of the officers who murdered George Floyd they issued a since retracted statement saying “other evidence doesn't support a criminal charge,” including preliminary autopsy findings, without toxicology results, that claimed Floyd’s “underlying health conditions, and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death." This is a clear example of Drug War policy being used to cover up the murder of a black man.

The war on drugs, predominantly waged against black and brown men, destroys the social fabric of our communities and prevents a life of liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As a key weapon of the war on drugs, marijuana prohibition has led to black Americans being almost four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as our white counterparts and remains one of the top reasons for police interactions with our community, which can too often become a death sentence. 

This consistent disregard for the lives and wellbeing of our communities has resulted in an untenable situation. We must implement a bold and comprehensive program focused on uplifting our communities. Without this, we will continue to bring this system to a halt.

The best path forward is to hold accountable all officers who committed violent crimes, demilitarize all police departments and shift those public dollars to social services, end the war on drugs and its criminalization of black and brown bodies, and lastly put social equity at the forefront of all marijuana legalization policies so that our communities can rebuild from the devastation of decades of police terror.

To our allies in the cannabis industry, now is the time to invest in healing the damage done to communities of color by committing financial resources directly to impacted communities. Donate to one of the many bail funds throughout the country working to reunite families disrupted by the criminal justice system. You can find additional ways to help here. We also encourage you to support this petition organized by our friends and allies of Minorities for Medical Marijuana. 

For our friends in the legal community, we encourage you to donate your time to local organizations coordinating pro bono legal support for organizations on the ground. You can find a short list here. The National Lawyers Guild is a great place to start.

For all people of color planning to participate in local demonstrations, we encourage you to use the following guidelines in this movement for justice. You can find more information about your rights as a protestor from the ACLU here.

1. Don’t attend any rally with cannabis or cannabis usage materials on your person. Even if it is legal in your state. This extends to weapons or anything that could be construed as a weapon. Yes white communities are not held to the same standard but our goal is the safety of our communities. 
2. It will always be best to avoid any interaction with law enforcement. This may not always be possible since police are known to get violent at peaceful demonstrations, so be prepared to leave any space that feels unsafe.
3. If you see someone else having an interaction with law enforcement, film it.
4. Have a legal representative chosen beforehand in the event you have a negative interaction with law enforcement. Write their number on your forearm in sharpie in case you drop your phone. Check with the National Lawyers Guild for resources in your community. 
5. Take care of vulnerable groups who are choosing to participate. Children, the elderly, those with mobility challenges, etc. 
6. Come with friends and don't get separated. Avoid leaving the crowd. There’s power in numbers and more experienced organizers are likely to be helping the larger crowds. Have a team offsite plan for emergencies. if you have not been heard from by X time coordinated next steps to make sure the whole team is safe.
7. Cell service may be disrupted or overloaded over the space where large crowds are gathered. Record in high resolution then upload later rather than going live if you have a weak signal.
8. Water works fine to clean out eyes from pepper spray. Other solutions (Diluted milk) also work but plain water is best.
9. Never pressure anyone to do something they are uncomfortable with, and be highly skeptical of anyone trying to convince you to do something you do not want to do.
10. Our community is strong, creative and loving. Bring that mindset to every action.  

In solidarity,

Todd Hughes, Board Chair

Brandon Wyatt, Esq Board Secretary

Margeaux Bruner, Co-Chair Economic Empowerment Committee

Brandon Banks, Co-Chair Economic Empowerment Committee

Ru Johnson, Chair Marketing Committee

Barrington Rutherford, Board Member

Dr. Rachel Knox, Board Member

Dr Olga Obie, Board Member

Al Harrington, Board Member

David Abernathy, Board Member

Jason Ortiz, President

Jazmin Aguiar, Board Co-Chair

Kaliko Castille, Vice President

Jessica Velazquez, Board Treasurer

Around the country, state departments of agriculture are working to develop regulations and conditions that help hemp farmers in their states, while the Oct. 31 deadline looms for state plans and hemp producers to be in compliance with the 2018 Farm Bill. Much of the effort to help hemp growers has been focused on making public comments on the USDA’s interim final rule, which many find restrictive to the industry’s potential growth. In other states, such as Colorado and Illinois, additional effort has been placed on finding ways to further develop the hemp market to increase hemp farmers’ chances of success in a fledgling industry struggling to stabilize amidst regulatory limbo and market growing pains exacerbated by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDA), which oversees the state’s cannabis programs (including hemp), “has been diligently working to open markets for growers to sell their hemp,” Jerry Costello II, who was appointed in late February as the director of the IDA, commented in April in an IDA statement.

As part of that endeavor, the IAD “recently developed a policy allowing licensed hemp growers to sell product to licensed cannabis cultivators for use in medical and adult-use cannabis products,” Costello stated.

The policy, “Illinois Department of Agriculture Policy Regarding Hemp and Hemp Derivatives in Medical and Adult-Use Cannabis Products,” was announced March 23 by the IDA’s Bureau of Medicinal Plants.

Jeff Cox, bureau chief for medicinal plants, helped to facilitate the new policy and believes it opens the door to a significant new market opportunity for both hemp farmers and medical and adult-use cannabis businesses in the state, which “will be adopting the USDA 2018 Farm Bill regulations, effective Nov. 1,” he says.

“We harvested over 70% of the hemp that was planted in Illinois in 2019.  That increased our supply of hemp dramatically,” Cox says. “By supply, I mean hemp that's just sitting in barns or in storage, or that may have been processed and is now some kind of a crude oil, distillate or isolate. While we had a lot of processors licensed, I don't think they expected the influx of hemp that we had. They're doing a great job, but they can only process so much so fast. We realized that we needed another market for the hemp that was grown in Illinois.”

So while hemp farmers will have the potential to sell into the legal medical and adult-use cannabis markets, Cox says that growers in those markets will also benefit.

“At the same time, we've got these cannabis growers, the marijuana growers, that are growing for medical patients and for the general public now, folks over 21 that can legally consume cannabis,” he says. “The biggest demand is for high-THC flower. These cannabis growers have to devote certain parts of their indoor marijuana operations to high-CBD strains, and the vast majority of that high-CBD marijuana is being extracted and then used in infused products along with THC.  What we realized is that if we allow our marijuana processors to purchase the high-CBD hemp that was grown in Illinois, then that will free up grow space for them in their cannabis cultivation centers to devote more to high-THC flower.”

This was more than a theory, however. Cox says he was approached by several operators in the medical and adult-use markets who requested the possibility of opening up the hemp market in this way to provide them with sources of CBD.

“So we started doing some research into it. The interesting thing about our adult-use act, the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, is that the definition of cannabis specifically excludes industrial hemp as defined in and authorized under the Industrial Hemp Act,” he says. “For the marijuana sector, the rules required that all cannabis had to be grown within one of our licensed marijuana facilities, our cultivation centers. By saying that cannabis no longer includes industrial hemp, however, the cultivation centers can incorporate industrial hemp into their other cannabis products this way.

“So that's kind of where this came from. It opened up grow space for the cannabis growers, and it gave a new market to our hemp growers and our processors to be able to sell their product directly to the marijuana processors. They can either extract it or, if they are purchasing something that's already extracted, they can mix it in with their other infused products. The hope is that we provide a market to the hemp growers. We free up space in marijuana cultivation operations for more high-THC flower, which then allows more high-THC flower to make it to dispensaries for patients.”

“I think it’s a positive thing,” says Shawn Hauser, chair of the hemp and cannabinoid practice group at law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, on states allowing hemp to be sold into legal medical and adult-use cannabis markets. “I think it moves the ball forward as far as hemp being treated as any other input, such as flour or chocolate, and that’s how it should be treated. I think people certainly go to marijuana stores to buy these types of products. There’s a market that is looking for lower-THC products. I think [hemp products] should have every retail avenue any other commodity can have.” 

What Products Are Eligible?
Unlike Colorado’s new policy, which limits the sale of industrial hemp only into the legal marijuana market and specifies that “Plant material from an Industrial Hemp plant, such as flower, trim, fan leaves, or whole plant, is not considered Industrial Hemp Product,” Illinois’ policy intentionally includes any part of the hemp plant (“any intermediate or finished product made or derived from industrial hemp”). One restriction is that “hemp flower may not be sold to dispensaries,” per the policy.

Regarding the decision to allow for all parts of the plant to be sold into the medical and adult-use cannabis markets, Cox says, “We did that on purpose [for] our hemp processors that have taken in Illinois hemp and processed it. They're sitting on oil with no market. Now they can sell the oil directly to the cultivation centers for further processing; or our farmers can sell the flower or the biomass directly to the cultivation centers so that they can extract it themselves and incorporate that into the infused products.”

The policy, like the industrial hemp program, applies only to hemp with 0.3% or less Delta-9 THC (the primary intoxicating compound in cannabis). In November, when Illinois adopts the 2018 Farm Bill regulations, that will change to total THC, meaning Delta-9 THC and THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, the non-psychoactive acid form of THC found in the raw plant that can convert to THC).

While recognizing the new policy’s significant benefits, Illinois Hemp Growers Association President and CEO of the Rachel Berry laments that the policy was not put in place sooner. She points to her recent blog post on the association’s website, which reads, “Since the policy is operating under the current Illinois industrial hemp program, presumably this policy could have been implemented much sooner. The price for hemp CBD has dropped to the point where cultivation centers and dispensaries are looking at generous margins by taking advantage of a depressed market. If the policy was in place sooner, a lot more hemp would have found a home in 2019. Supply chains would have been established before the adult use rush of January 2020 and product would have flowed consistently, potentially mitigating some of the logjam of oversupply in August of 2019 and the following months.”

Instead, she writes, “What this policy means now is for a limited time only, there will be a short period of procurement by cultivation centers in Illinois who will buy up all the CBD distillate and isolate they will ever need at a bargain from any processor in the country who needs to liquidate their inventory.”

She also points out, however, that “criticism aside, this is a progressive and positive movement for the hemp industry. Giving hemp growers a path into dispensaries is a powerful statement and an economically beneficial tool.”

When asked if Cox anticipated challenges to the policy in November when the state has to shift from its 2014 Farm Bill pilot program to the 2018 Farm Bill program, he replied, “I don't think so. I see it possibly being a struggle for our hemp growers to deal with that total THC calculation; that is going to be tough for our growers. But that's why we wanted to stick with the pilot program through this growing season. So that our farmers can experiment a little bit more and find different genetics that will be compliant next year, under that total THC of 0.3%.”

As far as other efforts to open up new markets for hemp farmers in the Prairie State, Cox says, “I think the future for Illinois is fiber. Illinois was made for fiber. We've got massive row-crop fields, and big, flat, well-drained soil. Some of the best soil in the world is in Illinois,” he says. “Our geography and our topography lends itself well to fiber growing and processing. There are several fiber processors that are under construction right now in several parts of the state. Whether CBD or fiber, hemp has the potential to be a big part of the agriculture market over the next few years.”

Hemp Grower Associate Editor Theresa Bennett contributed to this article.