By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Indiana seems positioned to legalize oil derived from cannabis for medical use, and farmers growing the industrial hemp used in its production.

Under a bill adopted Feb. 5 by a roughly 2-1 margin in the state Senate, the oil – used to treat epilepsy and other seizure disorders – cannot contain more than 0.3 percent THC, the active ingredient in marijuana also found at much lower levels in its cousin, hemp. That bill is on its way to the full House after passing out of a House committee on Feb. 22.

A Senate committee is also taking up a separate measure allowing farmers to grow hemp not exceeding the low THC threshold under a pilot program to be established by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. The extremely low THC content required in both pieces of legislation provides assurance the oil will be used strictly for medical purposes, and that the hemp grown by farmers meets the trace amounts of THC required for its production.

“You’d have to drink about 60 gallons of this CBD oil to catch a high,” said Rep. Jim Pressel (R-Rolling Prairie).

He explained CBD oil is also used as an anti-inflammatory for conditions including arthritis. “It’s a good product.”

A measure approved by the House on Jan. 31 was offered by Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour). His bill legalizes the production of hemp for other products as long as the hemp used in those products comes from a state-licensed grower.

“The low THC level renders hemp useless as a recreational drug, but it can be used for various industrial applications such as textiles, building materials and health products,” he said.

Currently, only researchers at institutions like Purdue University are allowed to legally grow the plant in this state, under a federal law adopted in 2014 that gives states the option of cultivating hemp for research purposes only.

There could be some pushback at the Statehouse, though, before the measures possibly make it out of both chambers and head to the governor’s desk for his signature. Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill in November 2017 declared CBD oil illegal, following a great deal of confusion over a law adopted in 2017 that allowed the oil to be used for epilepsy.

In response, Gov. Eric Holcomb said only warnings will be issued to stores, which must clear hemp products from their shelves until the legislature clarifies the law. This year’s legislative session ends on March 14.

Some lawmakers are also concerned about adopting laws that could be overturned by the federal government if talk in the nation’s capital about cracking down on legalized marijuana becomes reality.

Maranda Summers of Fishers praised industrial hemp and CBD oil for easing the severe nerve pain of her quadriplegic son, at a Statehouse rally. “It’s the worst fire pain you could ever feel. That is what my son felt every day for 11 months before hemp-derived CBD oil took that pain away,” she said.

Michelle Lennis of Indianapolis helped organize the rally. She pointed to the extremely low THC levels in industrial hemp for lawmakers who might be concerned about legalizing a narcotic, and pointed to the many uses of hemp in rope and other products like food.

“What it is is not marijuana,” Lennis said.

In Kentucky, the production of hemp, since legalized under a similar framework, has grown from just 33 acres in 2014 to over 12,000 from more than 200 growers in 2017, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA). China, Russia and South Korea account for 70 percent of the world’s industrial hemp supply, according to KDA.

According to the Washington, D.C.-based National Hemp Assoc., the plant can grow nearly anywhere in the world and in many types of soil without pesticides. Hemp is also a high-yield crop, producing per acre twice as much oil as peanuts and nearly four times as much fiber pulp for paper as trees.

Chris Hurt, an agricultural economist at Purdue, said some Hoosier farmers would grow hemp if the returns were higher than corn, soybeans and wheat. Achieving higher profits on hemp would be “no small task” because of the high-quality soil in the state along with the decades of research and technological advances in raising those basic crops, he added.

Hurt said similar supporting industries ranging from seed production, machinery and the marketing and processing sectors for corn, soybeans and wheat also would have to be created in order to help grow the new crop profitably. “All of that would need to be developed for hemp,” he pointed out.

He did question if the market for hemp-based products is large enough to support many farmers growing it.

According to the Congressional Research Services, all products with hemp generated $573 million in retail sales nationwide in 2015.