Celebrating Hemp History Month – [Sonoma Business, May 1995] – In 1994, an experimental hemp crop was planted in the Imperial Valley which was intended to advance research in the cultivation of industrial hemp. The crop was grown by owners of Southern California’s Hempstead Company, Chris Boucher, Dave Martyn and Brian Ambrose, along with Don Wirtshafter of the Ohio Hempery, who cooperated in the venture under the name Hemp Agro Tech.
. . . On July 21, the cooperative was notified the plants would be destroyed because the state attorney general’s office did not approve the crop. All hemp contains THC, and any level of THC, however low the level may be, makes a crop illegal, according to Mike Van Winkel, information officer for the Attorney General’s Division of Law Enforcement. On July 25, members of the Imperial County Narcotics Task Force showed up with a bulldozer and destroyed the crop. (more)
This series courtesy of the Richard Rose Report
