Hemp Industry Leaders Throw Their Support Behind Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol

David Bronner, producer of nation's best-selling natural soap, donates $50,000 to support Amendment 64, which would allow for legal cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp

JUNE 5, 2012 – DENVER – National leaders from the industrial hemp industry expressed support for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol at a news conference today, Tuesday, June 5.

David Bronner of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, the nation's best-selling natural soap, delivered a check for $50,000 in support of Amendment 64, the initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol, which also directs the Colorado State legislature to regulate the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp.

Joining Bronner were Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, the nation's leading industrial hemp advocacy group, and Adam Dunn, owner of Hemp HoodLamb, a successful hemp apparel company operated out of Denver.

"I support Amendment 64 because it would unlock the potential for industrial hemp to bolster the Colorado economy," Bronner said. "Overall, the market for hemp fiber and seed products in the U.S. is $400 million annually. Sadly, because hemp has been caught up in this nation's irrational marijuana prohibition laws, not a penny of that money goes to farmers in the U.S."

If voters approve Amendment 64 in November, Colorado could become the nation's sole domestic source for industrial hemp. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world that prohibits the commercial production of industrial hemp, and more hemp is exported to the U.S. than to any other country.

"Allowing the legal cultivation and processing of industrial hemp would provide Colorado with an infusion of new jobs and tax revenue in the near-term," said Brian Vicente, co-director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. "It would also make it a leader in the development of a major new industry that will surely expand in coming years."

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