Wyoming Black Hills considering industrial cannabis

Inyan Kara Mountain in NE Wyoming from near Carlile in Crook County overlooking the Belle Fourche River under a nearly full moon

Wells in Crook County in the Wyoming Black Hills have been depleted or compromised from over a century of irrigating alfalfa, grazing livestock, mining coal and quarrying bentonite. So some landowners are considering industrial cannabis (hemp) because more than 55 area wells are producing water that is not even fit for cattle to drink.

“There are a lot of things that need to happen before people can start growing hemp, but it is exciting and encouraging that, maybe in the future, it could be a viable cash crop in Wyoming,” says Blake Hauptman, UW Extension. The highest value part of the crop is the flower, primarily grown for CBD, followed by the seed and fiber. “Growers must obtain a permit from either the USDA or their respective Department of Agriculture in order to grow the crop. This is to ensure that the cannabis sativa is verified to remain under the definition of hemp." [Sundance Times]

Gambling on an expensive crop with little access to markets is a game for rich people. It costs at least $50,000 to plant 20 acres of genetically engineered CBD-rich hemp.

PJ Treide, an entrepreneur well known for his leadership of Sheridan-based Bighorn Design Studio, sees the passage of the legislation as an opportunity for economic development and diversity in the state. Treide now holds the role of business development lead for Able Holdings, which he described as a full-service, vertically designed Sheridan business aimed at bringing hemp production and value-add products to the global market. [Newspaper in Wyoming town named for a war criminal]

The road to legal cannabis for all adults is paved with hemp and giving CBD products as gifts is one thing but selling them without being tested by the Food and Drug Administration especially through interstate commerce is completely different.

The reality is: Wyoming is smoking out sugar beets.

After years of ballyhoo and rumor, it’s finally going to happen — for the first time since 1923, sugar beets will no longer be processed in Goshen County. According to Western Sugar Cooperative President and CEO Rodney Perry, the current processing campaign will be the last for the Torrington facility, which has been in operation for 95 years. Most recently, Western Sugar announced 92 employees would be permanently laid off in a letter to Torrington Mayor Mike Varney, the Wyoming Workforce Center and the Wyoming Department of Labor. [Casper Star-Tribune]

Genetically engineered sugar beets contribute to the autism spectrum in kids, the consumption of sugary drinks results in some 25,000 deaths in the United Snakes and beet sugar causes more than 184,000 deaths worldwide each year. Forty percent of cancers are caused by obesity. Breast cancer rates in South Dakota are the highest in the US and 31.4 percent of South Dakotans are obese. CBD products being sold in South Dakota and other states are little different from raw milk, preserves, pies or juices that are often tainted with hormones, pesticides and worse but sold at farmers markets anyway.

Matt Rankin is the co-owner of the Wyoming Hemp Seed Company and he has a vested interest in House Bill 171. The bill would regulate hemp in the state. Rankin said, "I'm planning on relocating my electrician business from Colorado and hopefully my mom and pop enterprise can come along if all of the laws are passed." [KGWN teevee]

Crook County hosts thousands of bikers during the Sturgis Rally so it's not difficult to imagine the South Dakota Highway Patrol setting up checkpoints at the border to confiscate all those jars of CBD and hemp hats purchased in Sundance, at the Devils Tower Trading Post or in Hulett.

Wyoming gets on board with hemp & CBD https://t.co/FiLP64QTO3

— Official Cannabis Nurses Network (@cannanurses) March 20, 2019