Is the KY Hemp Industry Dead?

Unless something changes, Mitch McConnell killed Kentucky’s hemp industry.

Under a last-minute rider he slipped into the continuing resolution, 97.5–100% of the hemp currently being grown in Kentucky could be declared illegal by the federal government—not just in the Bluegrass State, but nationwide.

Growers would be forced to switch overnight to a genetically modified hemp strain that may not even exist yet— if the new language is interpreted to cover living plants and not just finished products. Even if such a miracle seed magically appears, 97.5% of Kentucky’s existing crop is grown for CBD flower and other products that McConnell’s amendment would explicitly outlaw.

Katie Moyer—current treasurer and former president of the Kentucky Hemp Association, and owner of Kentucky Hemp Works—joins the show to explain:

- Where the industry was just months ago.
- How it’s been gutted in a single stroke.
- Why Mitch McConnell, once celebrated as the “father of hemp,” just drove the final nail into its coffin.