Idaho Judge Rules Against the Return of Industrial Hemp
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]n April 26, Idaho Judge Ronald Bush ruled that a shipment of industrial hemp that was seized in February would not be returned to its owner.
This ruling stems from an incident that occurred in February, when a semi-truck loaded with nearly 7,000 pounds of “green leafy substance” was seized by an Idaho State police officer. Big Sky Scientific, the company that owned the crop, assured police that it was industrial hemp and not cannabis, which is illegal in Idaho. According to the Idaho Statesman, the hemp that has been confiscated was being shipped to Colorado. Big Sky CEO Ryan Shore has stated that the hemp had been purchased from a farm licensed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
However on April 26, test results that were recently made public that confirmed that the shipment was indeed industrial hemp. “We are happy that the 9th Circuit has agreed with Big Sky that Idaho taxpayers and the general public deserve to know that Idaho’s own tests performed in a Kentucky lab showed that what we were hauling was in fact hemp and not marijuana,” said Shore in a news release. “All of our tests showed our shipment was hemp, and every test that Idaho conducted showed that our hemp was significantly below the 0.03 percent THC limit for industrial hemp.” Big Sky sued the Idaho State police earlier this year, asking for the release of the hemp and its truck. Judge Bush stated that the crop will not be returned to company, and the semi-truck carrying the hemp will be sold off.
“It is unfortunate that at the same time Idaho knew the truth about the material Big Sky was transporting and was petitioning the federal court to keep these test results sealed, the state continued to portray our driver as a marijuana trafficker in the press,” Shore continued.
Hemp is still considered illegal in Idaho regardless of its THC concentration. Possession of cannabis and hemp are regarded as the same offense in the state and the punishment for both is identical.
