Nevada Hemp for Biomass (2010)

Not on Ballot
This measure did not or will not appear on a ballot

The Hemp for Biomass did not appear on the November 2, 2010 statewide ballot in Nevada as an initiated state statute. The initiative would have allowed the Desert Research Institute to research hemp as a source of biomass for energy. Hemp used in such research would be required to be imported, since it would still be illegal to grow marijuana in Nevada.

Biomass is any organic matter available on a renewable basis, such as agricultural crops and waste, wood and wood wastes, animal wastes, municipal wastes, and aquatic plants.

Supporters

The measure was being pushed by a group called Hemp for Fuel, Inc. “Hemp is not marijuana,” said Kathryn Whitman, president of Hemp for Fuel Inc.

Whitman, a Reno businesswoman, said industrial hemp was used in World Wars I and II by the military for such things as sealant on ships and in uniforms, adding that Nevada “has a responsibility to provide us with clean renewal energy and has the duty to promote any research that will help us to this goal."

Greg Bortolin, a spokesman for the Desert Research Insitutte, said the institute was studying possible energy sources, and hemp “could well be another biomass."

See also

• Nevada 2010 ballot measures
• 2010 ballot measures

External links

• Full text of the initiative
• Hemp for Fuel, Inc. web site

Additional reading

• 2010 Will Be Even Better Than 2009 For Marijuana Advocates