Why US Senators Demand Economic Assistance for Hemp Enterprises
State structures responsible for issuing permits do everything possible to issue appropriate permits and licenses exclusively “through the corruption component”. We can already say that the above actions on the part of government agencies will unambiguously lead to the fact that in 2020 the sowing area of technical hemp in Ukraine will decrease even compared to 2019 , which will automatically lead to a shortage of raw materials in the market and an increase in its cost , and products made from it .
The group, which includes 11 Democratic legislators, requires the US Senate permission to receive hemp enterprises specializing in medical hemp from the state in connection with the ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus. On March 26, in a letter sent to the chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, US lawmakers called on the Financial Services and Public Administration Subcommittee to include the necessary language regarding hemp enterprises in the upcoming regulations governing the expansion of SBA lending programs. ”
As noted in the above letter by US senators, “the current policy of the Small Business Administration (SBA) excludes small enterprises legally operating in the field of modern hemp breeding in the United States from the list of companies that can be financed by the above state structure.
According to senators, small and medium-sized enterprises legally working in the field of cultivation , as well as the use of hemp for medical purposes, have to choose to stay in the rapidly growing sphere of legal use of psychoactive hemp and not be able to use SBA loan programs or retrain into enterprises engaged in industrial hemp breeding and count on assistance and support in business development from the Office.
It is in connection with this situation that the senators called for amendments to the relevant regulatory legal acts , which will allow legal hemp production companies to gain access to SBA lending programs. In particular, US lawmakers in the letter focused on the fact that enterprises that received appropriate permits for the legal cultivation of psychoactive hemp should be eligible to participate in SBA programs, including the “Loan Guarantee Program”, “Natural Disaster Relief Program”, as well as the Microloan Program.
Commentary experts of the Association "Ukrainian industrial hemp"
Due to the fact that medical cannabis in the USA at the federal level is a particularly hazardous substance, the circulation of which is prohibited, licensed companies specializing in the legal production of medical hemp cannot receive federal assistance from SBA. Unprecedented measures by the US government aimed at supporting American business involve the provision of significant financial resources, including for enterprises specializing in the work of modern hemp breeding . This suggests that US government officials understand the importance of supporting this sector of the economy, at least in order to support the industry, which produces a huge number of jobs. This is not to mention the fact that a financially rapidly growing industry is supported , which may become uncompetitive in the international market due to the coronavirus epidemic and its consequences.
To speak about the support of national hemp breeding by our state at the moment is not necessary at all. In addition to the fact that the declared quarantine in connection with the coronavirus epidemic deprives a significant number of agricultural producers of the opportunity to work in the industrial hemp breeding sector in 2020, the state structures responsible for issuing permits do everything possible to issue appropriate permits and licenses exclusively “through corruption component. ” We can already say that the above actions on the part of government agencies will unambiguously lead to the fact that in 2020 the sowing area of technical hemp in Ukraine will decrease even compared to 2019 , which will automatically lead to a shortage of raw materials in the market and an increase in its cost , and products made from it .