Illinois lawmakers are a step closer to allowing the state’s farmers to grow industrial hemp. The crop can be used to make textiles, paper and other products… but state marijuana laws prohibit its cultivation, even though industrial hemp has very little of the active ingredient in cannabis that causes a “high.”
Farmers would have to obtain a license from the state to be allowed to plant and grow hemp. The Illinois House overwhelmingly approved the bill this week, but it now goes back to the Senate for concurrence on a House amendment.