Marijuana legalization is an ongoing process.And it’s starting to look like truckers are going to be stuck in the middle. In January this year, a trucker was arrested for hauling hemp from Oregon to Idaho. This is spite of a federal ruling passed in 2018.
Dubbed the Farm Bill, the US decision states hemp is legal to transport. Nevertheless, Idaho had the trucker arrested for hauling hemp across state lines. Let’s discuss what happened in detail below.
The Event
VIP Transport trucker, Denis Palamarchuck, was delivering over 6,700 pounds of hemp. Palamarchuck made it all the way to Idaho before being pulled over by the police on January 24th. When questioned, Palamarchuck revealed he was delivering hemp. To which, police had the load tested at the nearest weigh station. Upon examination, THC was discovered.
THC is the part of marijuana that gives users a high. And marijuana is the flower of the hemp plant. Due to the high concentration of THC, the bud of the hemp plant is highly sought after. But hemp itself is useful for many causes aside from its use as a recreational or medicinal drug.
The base of the plant, such as leaves and stems, has less than 0.04% THC in it. For comparison, marijuana typically has between 15% and 43% THC. Nevertheless, the miniscule 0.04% of THC is likely what the Idaho police department picked up on.
The mainstream tests used to find out if a substance has THC is a general “Yes or No” type of question. So even if there is THC present, the percentage might not even have an effect on humans. This is the case when transporting hemp with a 0.04% amount of THC.
Due to the inaccuracy of testing and hemp’s versatile uses, transporting the plant was legalized at the federal level. But Idaho does not see it this way. Hence Palamarchuck’s arrest.
After The Arrest
The company behind the haul request was Big Sky Scientific LLC. Prior to the arrest, Big Sky Scientific bought roughly 13,000 pounds of industrial hemp from a farm in Oregon. When Palamarchuck was arrested, this massive amount of hemp was confiscated by the Idaho police.
To combat this, Big Sky Scientific sued Idaho State. Despite the Colorado company’s efforts, the motion to sue was shot down over the weekend. Idaho stated that although the Farm Bill passed, the ruling does not take effect until litigation is worked out. Namely, laws are still being determined to safely transport hemp through the state according to the U.S. Department and/or Idaho’s own discretion.
As for Palamarchuck, he was released on a$100,000 bond. VIP Transport, the trucking company Palamarchuck was hauling for, has officially stated they will not be delivering hemp any time soon.
As more companies require hemp for production and as marijuana legalization takes over on a state-to-state basis, truckers and trucking companies will have to be careful about all the necessary laws.