Colorado activist Matt Rankin has been growing hemp for 25 years. If a new bill passes in the Wyoming Senate, he will have one of the first commercial hemp companies in the Cowboy State.

Rankin recently founded the Wyoming Hemp Seed Company. Licensed to Saratoga, the business would supply hemp seeds to farmers in the region. Rankin claims his crop can be used to make construction materials, paper, insulation, stock feed, and a variety of other products.

"Hopefully my mom and pop enterprise can come along if all of the laws are passed," Rankin told KGWN. "Ten years from now we won't be able to recognize the industry from where it is now."

If passed, Wyoming House Bill 171 would license and regulate agricultural hemp production and the sale of cannabinoid (CBD) products containing less than three-tenths of one percent THC, the psychoactive ingredient found in marijuana.

After clearing the House of Representatives unanimously, the bill has now been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The act will need to pass through three readings in the Senate and be approved by Governor Mark Gordon before becoming law.

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