Episode 89 - Cannabis Super Close Up + The DEA’s Latest Strike Against The Hemp Industry
Be sure to listen to the main interview with photographer Ted Kinsman as you view the link from this post. And be sure to listen to the new way the DEA is trying to kill the hemp industry in its infancy.
This episode pairs best with a laptop! It includes a portfolio of remarkable scanning electron microscopic (SEM) photos of the cannabis plant, which is rarely seen at this level of detail. These images will blow your mind—and you don’t need to be stoned to appreciate them. They were shot by Ted Kinsman, associate professor in the Photographic Sciences Department at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York and an admitted plant lover. While not a cannabis aficionado, Ted loves to peer deep into places that the human eye cannot see and this set of images will show you the magic trichomes, bracts and other elements make up the inflorescence. I recommend you click this link and listen to Ted’s descriptions of each image as you listen. Note: cannabis is not this colorful, unless, of course, you are under its influence. Ted explains the logic and magic of his hand coloring. If you’d like to own a copy of Ted’s (redundantly titled) but amazing book, Cannabis: Marijuana Under the Microscope, click here.
The opening segment of this episode is an interview with Andrew Rosner, a lawyer and owner of HR Botanicals, LLC, which produces CBD products under its Source Botanica brand. Andrew is also Vice President of the New York State Cannabis Growers and Processors Association.
Last week the DEA released "Interim Final Rules" that Rosner and other CBD processors say are an existential threat to their emerging industry. Rosner is one of the few people who have read the rules microscopically and is concerned that the DEA could use them in all sorts of nefarious ways that he outlines in this podcast. One of them allows the DEA to go into a field to test hemp plants for THC content. If any of the plants are are found to exceed .3% THC -- which many do before they are processed -- the DEA can shut down the farm and confiscate the plants. In this interview Andrew explains just how damaging this is to farmers and processors and why the larger cannabis industry isn’t taking to the streets in protest.
If you are connected with anyone in the CBD processing or hemp business be sure to share this podcast with them as these “interim” rules are already in effect. However, the DEA is accepting public comments until October, 20, 2020. Be sure to read the Interim Final Rules and comment here.
And Pass This Podcast Along! The DEA is not a friend of this growing industry!