Industrial Hemp Bill Is Defeated In Bulgaria

Prior to cannabis prohibition being enacted across the globe, the hemp plant was widely used by many different societies around the world. The hemp plant is arguably the most versatile plant on earth and can be used as an input for everything from textiles to wellness products.

One of the many examples of how the hemp plant can be used is hemp fiber. Humans have used the hemp plant to make fibers for a multitude of purposes for centuries. In fact, archaeologists and historians have confirmed that ancient civilizations in China used hemp fiber to make pottery going as far back as 4,000 BCE.

Many countries around the world have already modernized their policies to permit industrial hemp production and processing, with many more being in the process of making such policy changes. Unfortunately, Bulgaria is not one of them. An industrial hemp processing measure was recently defeated in Bulgaria. Per the Bulgarian News Agency:

In a first-reading procedure on Wednesday, the National Assembly defeated a bill to amend and supplement the Control of Narcotic Substances and Precursors Act moved by MP Rosen Kosturkov of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB). The bill was supported by 49 members of CC-DB. Another 81 MPs voted against, and 31 abstained from voting.

The changes were aimed to provide a possibility to process industrial hemp in Bulgaria in addition to growing the plant. It would make it legal for plants of the hemp family (cannabis), intended for making products without a psychoactive effect, to be processed by permission of the minister of agriculture.

Bulgaria’s Customs Agency helped doom the measure via its opposition, citing a lack of resources to test harvests to see if it has a low enough THC content. A lack of laboratory capacity was specifically cited as part of the agency’s opposition.

From a purely scientific standpoint, hemp is cannabis, which is why many civilizations have often referred to all cannabis as ‘hemp.’ However, in recent years many governments around the globe have created policies and rules that distinguish hemp from non-hemp cannabis, with THC content being the separating criteria.

For instance, currently in the United Kingdom cannabis harvests that contain .2% or lower THC content are considered to be hemp. Above the .2% THC threshold is non-hemp. In the United States, the threshold is .3% THC and many countries around the world permit a 1% THC threshold.