Idaho begins licensing hemp transportation
In 2018 and 2019, truck drivers hauling hemp cargos across the state of Idaho were stopped and jailed on suspicion of marijuana trafficking. Now the state is taking online license applications to grow and transport hemp.
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture in late October announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had approved the state’s hemp law.
The USDA ruled that the plan was consistent with the 2018 farm bill, which defined “hemp” as different from marijuana and legalized it. Hemp can contain no more than 0.3% THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana.
Licensed operators will be allowed to cultivate, produce, harvest and transport hemp with up to 0.3% THC and can sell such hemp to licensed handlers in Idaho.
The new law, however, doesn’t allow anyone to sell hemp products containing any amount of THC to Idaho consumers.
The state hemp plan was created after Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill in April that authorized the production, processing, transportation and research of industrial hemp.
Idaho was the last state to make growing and transporting hemp legal following the 2018 farm bill that legalized hemp production at the federal level.
Applications can be completed and fees paid entirely online. Fees are $100 for an annual application, $500 for a grower’s annual license, $1,000 for a handler’s license, $250 per lot for a grower’s pre-harvest inspection, and $500 for an annual site inspection and other inspections for handlers.
Three truck drivers were arrested and charged with marijuana trafficking for hauling hemp cargos on Idaho interstate highways before the state passed its hemp legislation and got USDA approval.
Denis Palamarchuk was arrested in January 2019 for driving a truck for a third-party trucking company with a hemp load. Andrew D’Addario and Erich Eisenhart were arrested in April 2018 for hauling 915 hemp plants across Idaho from a licensed industrial hemp farm in Colorado to a licensed farm in Oregon.
All entered into plea agreements in September 2019 involving fines, probation and time served. LL