Dear Governor Little,
I was looking forward to good things happening under your administration, and some have, but what your Office, the ISP, the Prosecutor’s Association and other law enforcement interests have done to the Hemp Bill, H 122a, is a serious tragedy and a public disgrace.
Certainly, when laws are made those who will enforce them should have some say in their content. But closed-door hardball “negotiations” that completely gut the original Bill and replace it with a police state wish list are not how that should be done! Law enforcement did not show up at the House Committee hearing when they could. I and many others did, testifying to the great opportunities from an Idaho hemp industry. At the Senate hearing, some of the law enforcement testimony was deceitful and clearly inaccurate, especially regarding available testing and their negotiations with our legislators.
47 other states have a hemp industry operating or under development. This billion dollar opportunity for Idaho has been forced out in the cold by the disingenuous actions of your Office and others. It is a shame! Apparently, you would rather support the incarceration industry and their nearsighted, self-interest than this positive opportunity for farmers, producers, manufacturers, researchers, construction, healthcare and many other productive benefits for Idaho!
It is too late to fix this mess now. This legislative session is near an end. Perhaps you will see the great error of this hardball annihilation of the Hemp industry. Perhaps you will have a change of heart, maybe even call a special session to revisit hemp and get the people of Idaho the opportunities we deserve.
I, and I’m sure others, are willing to work with you to create some positive hemp legislation. Possibly even a state hemp “plan” that is solely statutory, expediting progress and avoiding the questionably lawful administrative process.
The alternative you have forced upon those of us who know the great potential of hemp, but who are not marijuana advocates, is to reluctantly join forces with the hemp and marijuana initiative, or otherwise find other avenues to bring all of the Cannabis family back to its pre-1937 legal state.
The unintended consequences of your Office’s recent misconduct may reap a final outcome quite contrary to your shortsighted goals!
Hari Heath
An advocate for the Idaho Hemp Industry
