Idaho is the only Western state that has not modernized it's hemp laws. Even with the federal government making hemp legal, under the 2018 Farm Bill people are still being arrested for minor charges. Jason Santiago from Green State Hemp Consulting speaks with Dan Humiston about the enormous opportunities for farming hemp in Idaho and legislation that will unlock this sleeping giant. To learn more about Idaho's hemp potential go to PodCONX.com Produced by PodCONX https://podconx.com/guests/jason-santiago
Idaho is the only Western state that has not modernized it's hemp laws. Even with the federal government making hemp legal, under the 2018 Farm Bill people are still being arrested for minor charges. Jason Santiago from Green State Hemp Consulting speaks with Dan Humiston about the enormous opportunities for farming hemp in Idaho and legislation that will unlock this sleeping giant. To learn more about Idaho's hemp potential go to PodCONX.com
https://podconx.com/guests/jason-santiago
Dan Humiston: [00:00:00] Welcome to hemp barons.
Dan Humiston: [00:00:07] I'm Dan Humiston and on today's show we're going to take a deep dive into Idaho with Jason Santiago from the green state consultants Idaho is one of the only Western states that hasn't modernize their hemp laws. Even with the federal government making hemp legal through the passing of the 2013 Farm Bill Idaho continues to arrest people for offenses as minor as driving hemp through their state but fortunately change is coming and when it does Idaho's ideal farming conditions are going to make it perfect for growing hemp let's join my conversation with Jason Santiago from the green state consult.
Dan Humiston: [00:00:52] Hey Jason welcome to the show.
Jason Santiago: [00:00:54] Thank you very much for having me. Happy to be here.
Dan Humiston: [00:00:56] Well today we're speaking with Jason Santiago from the green state hemp consulting and soon to be lobbying in Idaho. So glad to have you on the show. There's a lot of things I'm curious about with the state of Idaho. It's sort of that enigma in the West like all the other state.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:12] Well it's like all the other state on the West have some form of cannabis legislation in time for Idaho.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:19] Yeah. Explain that.
Jason Santiago: [00:01:21] Well Idaho is notorious for being behind the times. I would say it's just the start. They're very afraid that it's going to become like the new California. There is a lot of people here with old ties to the land and they're afraid of change whether it's better or not.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:40] I mean I don't know why you'd be afraid of California. The industry is booming in California make it seems like almost everything better. You know in Colorado it's been a huge boom for the state.
Jason Santiago: [00:01:50] I don't think it's necessarily the business prospects. I think it's more the culture that's changing in Idaho and I'm afraid of that.
Dan Humiston: [00:01:58] I see a lot of misinformation I suspect. Yeah.
Jason Santiago: [00:02:02] Oh yeah I know still a lot going around there's billboards down in Boise still that say that driving accidents are up because of cannabis use in Colorado and Washington when that's been absolutely refuted.
Jason Santiago: [00:02:13] Yeah well you know it's common. This is it's campaigning not just the United States. It's happening all over the world and so you know you referred to Idaho as Russia. Yes the cannabis laws I know they're really outdated but that's gonna change. I mean it's going to be and when it does.
Dan Humiston: [00:02:33] Idaho is really really well-positioned uniquely positioned to excel in the industry. Tell us about that. Tell us give us some sense as to why Idaho is gonna be such a great cannabis producing state in central Idaho specifically is known as another Napa Valley.
Jason Santiago: [00:02:50] We have great conditions here we have a great growing season we have a lot of flat land that's already being used for wheat growing and the farmers are looking for another crop. But unfortunately right now they don't have an option.
Dan Humiston: [00:03:05] It's crazy. We think of Idaho as a place you get your potatoes from but you're right. Obviously Idaho is the potato state but I mean it just makes sense that that would be the state that would be the breadbasket for cannabis industry.
Jason Santiago: [00:03:21] All right.
Jason Santiago: [00:03:21] There is a lot of farming going on here already and the great thing about having somebody we farms here is that we can actually utilize that land to grow hemp and utilize the same equipment to then harvest it.
Jason Santiago: [00:03:31] Yeah I know you did a good show with the fellows from Montana and they're just killing it up there. It's just. Oh I'm sure they're killing it in Montana with Big Sky Country mountains off.
Jason Santiago: [00:03:40] There's so much flat land over there there's so many farms and it's a big deal. I mean one of the big things that Kentucky brought him back for was specifically because it regenerated the land. It brings back those deep blocked nutrients that are so deep that a lot of the corn and other plants that don't go that deep can't get to. So when it reaches all that way down sixty six feet in 30 days it pulls all those nutrients back up when you harvest it.
Jason Santiago: [00:04:03] They're a positive in the topsoil and that was one of the biggest things they were having in Kentucky which was why. McConnell actually pushed the legislation forward so strong because they were losing out on their corn production. Oh I didn't know that. Yeah. So they put it in as an alternating crop between the corn production and actually revitalizes the soil and brings back production.
Dan Humiston: [00:04:21] Wow. Yeah.
Dan Humiston: [00:04:22] So there'd be certainly an incentive for the farmers in Idaho to want to move towards some sort of hemp production or some laws that would allow them to produce hemp.
Jason Santiago: [00:04:35] Yes definitely. There's a lot of talk amongst the farmers there look for an alternate crop something that can help them bring in more money especially with the tariffs and everything that are going on.
Dan Humiston: [00:04:43] So what do we need in Idaho to get this ball rolling. What needs to take place in Idaho in order to catch up with the rest of the country.
Jason Santiago: [00:04:52] And I would say a lot of it would be hands on if we could get some of these farmers out to a hemp plantation so they can see what's going on or maybe even some of the law enforcement here in Idaho and get them out to some of these places and let them actually see how it's handled and see how regulated and how well controlled it really is.
Dan Humiston: [00:05:09] I think that could change a lot of minds you're referring to other states that are already in the production phase or yes.
Jason Santiago: [00:05:16] Absolutely. So if you're a business owner in Oregon or Washington or Montana that happens to have a farm invite some of these gentleman over I can even help facilitate this but invite some of these people over these decision makers these people who are influencing Idaho one way or another invite them to come and see how it's done at your facility how well you control it how well protected it really is.
Dan Humiston: [00:05:36] I think there's an opportunity as you're speaking I'm thinking to myself joint venture there's all kinds of opportunity here for joint venture if I've already have a facility running in say Montana. How hard is it to work together with farmers in Idaho and that may be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back. If you could get farmers from other parts of the country and other states that are having huge successes. These are generational winds that farmers just don't usually see like we had this recent interview where they were explaining that the traditional crop brings in about between a thousand and two thousand dollars in profit per acre in right now hams bringing in a hundred thousand dollars per acre.
Jason Santiago: [00:06:17] Hundred thousand dollars.
Dan Humiston: [00:06:19] Oh my God I didn't even yes didn't even know that large there's such a demand right now for it we're just we're just scratching the surface because it's just with.
Jason Santiago: [00:06:27] Yeah I was barely even started really using it again. I mean we don't even use it for textiles and for clothing anymore and we're just barely starting to get back into that industry.
Dan Humiston: [00:06:34] Exactly. This is this is really the demand right now is just coming straight up from CBD. That's just one part of the crop. The rest of it. We haven't even started that yet. Don't understand why the people in Idaho haven't. It hasn't clicked in yet but I know it will click in. So if you're in another state or even if you're in Idaho Jason Santiago from green state HAMP consulting would be a good place to start if you want to talk to somebody about making introductions or about being a first mover in the state of Idaho. I think you can be so happy looking back on it. So Jason any other thoughts for our listeners.
Jason Santiago: [00:07:11] Before I let you go there was one other thing I was wondering if I could mention the petition I started. Yeah for sure for sure. Absolutely. Thank you. Well there's three gentlemen currently caught up in criminal court facing felonies for drug trafficking in the state of Idaho for transporting him either from Oregon to Colorado or Colorado to Oregon. They're looking at some pretty heavy prison time. So one of the things I did was I wrote a petition to start for the people of Idaho it's called the Employee Freedom Act.
Dan Humiston: [00:07:37] You know I don't know all the details behind the three gentlemen that were arrested but I know that seems so innocent like they're just working for like almost like a trucking company.
Jason Santiago: [00:07:48] Know one of them was a VIP VIP logistics out of Portland. And so that was a trucking company and and the other two were working for Lazarus naturals out of I believe their headquarters is in Seattle. But their farm was in Colorado and they were driving to Colorado over to Oregon and they drove through a U-Haul with a bunch of plants in the back like plants.
Dan Humiston: [00:08:05] It seems it's really over the top given the passing of the farm bill. You know that hemp is legal in a federal level.
Jason Santiago: [00:08:12] Of course it's still illegal in Idaho. But just go to Jason Santiago's Web site. All they did is they dot info forwarded all information will be on the MJBulls Web site. Also when you're on the Web site you gotta go to the video page you have to get your laugh and this is really cool stuff.
Dan Humiston: [00:08:30] There is some great video. I really appreciated it. There are some really good videos out there. There's some classic false propaganda. Oh my God. And I remember a lot these back in the day and looking back on it now you did say how silly some of these commercials were.
Dan Humiston: [00:08:46] But anyhow Jason's been a real pleasure having you on the show. I wish you the best with this petition and I and those people that are right now in their lives are completely upside down just for something so innocent. It's just exactly. Is it really unfair. There's a lot other ways that we could use our law enforcement resources to do better.
Dan Humiston: [00:09:08] Did you say again thank you for being on the show and I will look forward to speaking you again soon.
Jason Santiago: [00:09:13] Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.
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