A TV bartender named Woody Harrelson and a lot of farmers helped persuade Colorado lawmakers Thursday to give hemp a chance.
Despite heavy law enforcement resistance, the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 4-3 to support a bill by Sen. Lloyd Casey, D-Northglenn. The same bill died last year.
SB 67 now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Casey won an important initial victory. He had backing in a letter from actor Woody Harrelson, best-known as a bartender on the TV show "Cheers".
"Industrial hemp has never and could never be used for drug trafficking," wrote Harrelson, an investor in a hemp clothing company and import firm. "You could smoke a pound and not get high."
Also supporting the bill were representatives of the Colorado Farm Bureau, the Colorado State Grange and the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Police testified against the bill, as did representatives of anti-drug groups who called the bill nothing more that "a smoke screen" for legalizing marijuana.
"There is not too much of a difference between industrial hemp and marijuana," said Denver police Sgt. Tony Lombard, who this week seized a bale of hemp Casey planned to bring to committee.
SB 67 would launch a two-year research period and allow the planting of up to 40 acres of industrial hemp this year.
The bill would require that the industrial hemp grown in Colorado contain less than 0.5% THC (tetrahydrocannabinols), the active ingredient in marijuana. Police said street marijuana contains anywhere from 2% to 13% THC.
Supporters noted that hemp is grown in nearly 20 countries, including Canada, and can be used for paper, construction materials, clothes, paints and inks.
"It will be done by someone sometime in the near future," said Bob Winter, president of the Weld County Farm Bureau. "The question is, which state will take the leadership role?"