Press release from Asheville Museum of Science:
Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS) is pleased to announce a special edition of its popular Science Pub series. Science Pub: A Conversation About Hemp will take place on Friday, May 17th at 6:00 p.m. and feature a panel discussion moderated by Blake Butler, Executive Director of the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Association (NCIHA). Panelists will include Franny Tacy, hemp farmer and owner of Franny’s Farm and Franny’s Farmacy; Nathan Taylor, hemp processor and owner of Luxe Botanics; and Brad Todd, hemp farmer, processor and owner of Growers Hemp.
Industrial hemp has experienced an explosion in the past year following federal legislation that made growing the plant legal nationwide. Previously the law left hemp’s legal status up to individual states. North Carolina passed its industrial hemp pilot program in 2015. Approximately 200 farmers applied to grow hemp in 2016 and by the end of 2018 there were over 502. This year there are over 800 licensed growers with 6,900 outdoor acres to be planted and an additional 3.2 million licensed square feet in indoor greenhouses across the state.
“We’re thrilled that hemp is getting so much attention,” said Butler. “However, there are still a lot of misconceptions about the plant and its most well-known by-product, CBD. CBD is just one of the amazing things hemp can produce. It can be used for food, fuel, fabric and so much more. It’s crucial to dig into the biology of the plant and to get the scientific community involved because there’s a lot of research to be done – we don’t even know all of hemp’s possibilities yet.”
Science Pub events take place at The Collider, Suite 401 of the Callen Building, and are free to the public. Drinks and light snacks are also complementary, thanks to the generous sponsorship of The Collider, Wicked Weed Brewing, Ingles Markets, and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. Doors open at 5:30 PM, and talks begin at 6 PM.
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