GOP Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell supports hemp bill
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky, stands with Senate Republicans to address the media after their weekly policy luncheon in the US Capitol building on March 6.
GOP Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell has thrown his support behind a bill to legalize hemp production.
The Republican from Kentucky is joining forces with two Democratic senators — Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley — in support of a bill to legalize hemp production for US farmers, NBC News reported.
Senator Rand Paul, also from Kentucky, backed the bill, as well.
"During these tough economic times, this legislation has the potential to create jobs and provide a boost to Kentucky’s economy and to our farmers and their families," McConnell said in a statement Thursday.
At a recent hearing, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey said “The specter of people getting high on industrial hemp is pretty much exactly like saying you can get drunk on O’Doul’s."
The news comes one day after Kentucky passed a bill to legalize hemp production if the federal government says it is legal, Politico wrote.