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compassion.
>> All right. We leave it

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there. Eileen Fredericks,
thanks very much.

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>> Thank you.
>> In other news, Wisconsin

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is one of just ten states
where marijuana is illegal

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for both medical and
recreational use. But since

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2018, a federal loophole
allowed cannabis products

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to become an industry worth
millions of dollars in the

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state. That is, until the
federal government closed

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the legal loophole at the
end of the government

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shutdown. Here and now,
student journalist Elijah

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Pines tells us how business
owners are scrambling

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before the ban takes effect
in November.

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>> We were still planning
on growing. We were

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actually already making
adjustments for next year.

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>> Joni and Jeff Sayers
were among the first hemp

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00:00:48,916 --> 00:00:51,952
farmers in Wisconsin after
the 2018 farm bill made

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hemp legal to grow for
industrial use. A technical

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loophole in the bill
invited a new kind of

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industry to take hold.
>> A small, farm,

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sustainable crop that would
be great to grow.

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>> For the past seven years,
the pair have been growing

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hemp and making it into
products containing THC,

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the chemical that causes a
high. They sell gummies,

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lip balms, tinctures and
topicals at the farmers

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market. They just finished
this year's harvest and

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were about to board a plane
when they heard the news.

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The bill that ended the
government shutdown closed

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the hemp loophole and will
soon make their products

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illegal.
>> Devastated, right? I

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mean, it was just had the
wind knocked out of us for

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a minute. But our first
thought was, well, we live,

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eat and breathe hemp. This
is our life.

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>> The 2018 farm Bill
defined hemp as a cannabis

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plant, having less than
0.3% of delta nine THC, a

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specific kind of THC. Since
then, delta nine

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derivatives have blossomed
into an industry worth

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billions. The new, stricter
rules effectively ban all

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forms of THC for
consumption.

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>> We upgraded two more new
greenhouses last year, and

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we were debating whether we
should do it this year, but

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I think everything at this
point will probably be on

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hold for a few months.
>> In Wisconsin, it's

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estimated hemp is a $700
million industry, providing

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3500 jobs. Businesses like
Hemp Haven Farms are now on

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a one year countdown before
their THC goods are banned,

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and have to figure out what
to do next.

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>> We sell our farm.
>> I was considering myself

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semi-retired. Obviously I
take myself out of

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retirement to go back into
building and home

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remodeling.
>> Hemp has also expanded

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into other industries in
Wisconsin. Eagle Park has

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been a staple of
Milwaukee's brewing scene

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for years. In 2023, the
company's president, Max

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Borgardt, and his partners
decided to make the jump to

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THC drinks.
>> We've always been pro

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THC in all industries and.
We had our customers start

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asking and, you know,
figuring out, are we going

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to jump into this industry?
And it made sense for us to

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do it at that time.
>> THC drinks are now a

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significant chunk of their
profit.

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something like 16% this
year. But it's, you know,

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it's nowhere. When we
started out, it was a very

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small percentage. But I
think the thing is it's

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growing like crazy. It's
growing so fast.

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>> The provision to ban
hemp was slipped into the

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bill that ended the
government shutdown. It

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happened so fast. Not
everyone heard about it.

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>> We thought, oh, that
won't happen, but not in a

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not on this federal level.
No.

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>> And we also didn't have
any idea that it was

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something that they were
going to attach to this,

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you know, reopening and
funding the government bill.

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But here it is.
>> It's billions of dollars

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on the line, and the public
didn't know, the companies

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00:03:58,305 --> 00:04:00,541
didn't know, and they did
it within two days. So when

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it went through the Senate,
it immediately went to the

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House. And that window was
two days. There's not

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enough time to react and
not enough time to do

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anything.
Agard has to figure out

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00:04:10,517 --> 00:04:13,086
what to do if the ban
sticks.

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>> Next year. It could have
been an incredible year for

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us just because of how the
segment has been doing.

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>> Nice critics consider
products with under 0.3%

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levels of THC to
effectively be legal.

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Marijuana. In Wisconsin,
hemp products are

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unregulated.
>> The opportunity for

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00:04:30,904 --> 00:04:32,806
states and the federal
government to make tax

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00:04:32,873 --> 00:04:35,309
revenue, they can tax it. I
mean, we're taxed on the

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00:04:35,375 --> 00:04:37,477
alcohol that we produce and
the spirits that we produce.

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00:04:37,544 --> 00:04:40,747
There's an excise tax on
those. We welcome an excise

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tax if that's what needs to
happen to have regulation

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00:04:43,750 --> 00:04:46,987
in place.
>> We are opposed to a ban.

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00:04:47,888 --> 00:04:50,958
Obviously regulation is is
is good, right. There

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00:04:51,024 --> 00:04:52,559
should be an age
restriction. There should

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00:04:52,626 --> 00:04:55,863
be truth and accuracy in
labeling.

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00:04:59,766 --> 00:05:02,669
everything hemp is off the
table, it becomes under the

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00:05:02,736 --> 00:05:04,872
table.
>> If this happens, the

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Black market will grow. So
that is unregulated. So I

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00:05:10,611 --> 00:05:14,481
worry about the safety of
products that might be out

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00:05:14,548 --> 00:05:19,152
there that are unregulated.
>> Both Hemp Haven and

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00:05:19,219 --> 00:05:21,355
Eagle Park have their
products tested by labs and

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00:05:21,421 --> 00:05:25,592
sell only to those over 21.
Prior to the federal ban,

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00:05:25,659 --> 00:05:28,195
state lawmakers proposed
their own bill to close the

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00:05:28,262 --> 00:05:31,899
loophole. Other bills would
legalize and regulate THC

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00:05:31,965 --> 00:05:35,002
and hemp, but without new
state laws on the books. In

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00:05:35,068 --> 00:05:38,138
one year, the federal ban
will take effect. For

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00:05:38,205 --> 00:05:40,741
Wisconsin. Time is running
out for hemp.

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00:05:40,807 --> 00:05:44,344
>> I'll tell you. I had
about three three times the

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online orders this week
than I normally do. People

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are panicking, I'm sure.
are panicking, I'm sure.