From left: Dr. Erik Hunter, Senator Suzanne Williams, me (Lynda Parker), Mike Bowman, in hat a legislator who co-sponsored the bill, Lloyd Casey who introduced bills in ’95, ’96, and ’97, next Ron Carlton from Colorado Dept. of Ag, (woman on the right is unknown to me) – See more at: http://newaghempeconomy.com/2013/05/29/hemp-bill-signed-into-law/#sthash.DZbPSWyX.dpuf
May 28, 2013, Governor Hickenlooper signed SB13-241-”The Casey Bill” making it possible for Colorado farmers to plant hemp for commercial purposes in the 2014 planting season. What was once considered radical has become mainstream in Colorado. What a great place to live!
Eighty-six year old, Lloyd Casey, flew in for the signing and the long-awaited celebration. He was so moved by the acknowledgement. His efforts sat incubating for a decade, but without him I would not have known the wonder of hemp. This plant seriously got my attention as evidenced by the six and a half years I have devoted to its reintroduction. No amount of money could trump the gratification I feel for this success!
I have deep appreciation for all who’ve made this process so successful and fun from Senator Casey to Senator Williams to Senator Schwartz to Mike Bowman and Erik Hunter. You’ve all made this an amazing journey. What an honor to work with such committed and visionary people!
In a political science class I took in 1996, I followed Senator Casey’s hemp bill and never forgot the injustice and insanity of the past or the hope and possibility for the future. My inspiration to pick up the mantle a decade later, in 2006, was seated in my deep concern for the environment. I couldn’t think of anything more powerful and effective to put my energy behind. There was little evidence that it would ever be possible to end the ban, and there were a couple of times over the years that I was ready to give up.
The timing must have been right because I saw a glimmer of change and could see a shift of understanding was taking place. In time it became possible to have a grown-up conversation about hemp!
I never dared dream we’d arrive here in my lifetime, but here we are celebrating a hopeful future for our state with the opportunity to positively impact agriculture, industry, the economy and the environment.
We’ve had the support of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado State University, Canadian Consulate General and Colorado Law Enforcement, who at the highest level had no problem seeing the possibility. The support of these groups has been invaluable.
It couldn’t have happened without all the people who came together along the path including those I’ve already mentioned along with Representatives Fischer, McKinley and Sonnenberg, Brian Vicente, and Samantha Walsh. My family and friends deserve acknowledgement, too, for they suffered through all the hemp talk and must have thought it would never end.
Today it hasn’t ended – it has finally begun!
I am so proud of Colorado!
Lynda Parker
Denver
– See more at: http://newaghempeconomy.com/2013/05/29/hemp-bill-signed-into-law/