Mississippi Hemp Farmer's Facebook post describing their encounter with Mississippi Law Enforcement....

Original Text from Facebook listed below...

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I, Jim McAllister, and my partner, Deanna Matthews, are the owners and operators of Heat and Hemp Farms in Jefferson Davis County Mississippi. As the name implies the main focus of our farming is super hot peppers and hemp. Both my partner and myself are both licensed hemp producers through the USDA with the licenses being issued on October 19th, 2020. All of the paperwork was given to our local Farm Service Agent in Prentiss Mississippi before we even started our seeds. We started 1,100 hemp plants in four different lots (all lots having been registered). Due to the unusual amount of rain we have had this season we have lost roughly half of our plants. It was mid April when we started our first seeds in our hothouse and started transplanting six weeks later.    

On Thursday, July 22nd 2021 we were in Bassfield Mississippi that morning painting and received a call from my 74 year old, legally blind father stating that there was a helicopter circling treetop level over our farm and he was worried something was wrong. We came home for lunch around 12:30 and around 1 pm we heard our dogs outside barking and making a ruckus. When I opened my front door I was greeted to 8 unmarked vehicles parked in our driveway and 8 armed men walking around my private property. When I asked the first agent what the problem was he asked if the crop was hemp and if I was licensed, I told him I was and retrieved mine and my partners licenses from inside our house. When I returned I was confronted by Jeff Overstreet who proceeded to tell me over a ten minute argument that he didn't have to call the number provided on the bottom of my license to verify it was authentic. He also kept repeating that the USDA is federal and they were state and they couldn't get any information from the USDA. Jeff Overstreet was also wearing a shirt that had the insignia and name of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and when I asked why he couldn’t get federal information when he was wearing a shirt representing a federal government agency his reply was that it was just a shirt. IF an agent is working in an official capacity for the state then he shouldn't be wearing a federal agencies wardrobe, especially when he is constantly repeating he is state and can’t get any information from the federal agencies.  He also kept repeating that hemp was a “special kind of marijuana” and just because it was federally legal that it wasn’t legal in the state of Mississippi. He continued to ask how I knew I was compliant with state laws and I told him I knew because I had bought seeds that were compliant with state and federal laws. I retrieved my certificate of analysis to show him that the max potential THC in my plants was only .2% while the regulated limit is .3%. Jeff Overstreet nor any of his team would even  look at my certificate of analysis or listen to anything I was telling them. They just all continued to tell me they were state and my license was federal so it didn’t apply to them, and continuing to tell me that hemp was just a “special kind of marijuana” even though I tried multiple times to explain to them that both plants were cannabis but were completely different in regards to the law and biology. While I was trying to show Jeff Overstreet my certificate of analysis for my seeds, my partner called Ms. Vicki from the Hemp Division of the USDA and got her on the phone so they could speak to her since all of the agents said they weren’t capable of calling the number on my license. Jeff Overstreet, nor any of his team, wouldn’t even speak to Ms. Vicki so the confusion and ignorance of the laws they are tasked to enforce of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agents could be cleared up. After we hung the phone up with Ms. Vicki, Jeff Overstreet told me that this was just a compliance check. I informed him it was not as appointments are to be made for compliance checks. I allowed one of his agents into my field to do a field test of my crop just so I could get them off my property. The test came back CBD and on his way out Jeff Overstreet informed me and my partner that we were lucky they didn’t come in our house and that when we harvest our crop to be careful transporting it because they are enforcement.

It’s already difficult enough to be a farmer, having to deal with weather, animals, pests, and possible plant disease. But having 8 state agents come to my property unannounced and treat me like I’m a criminal is unacceptable. It is also unacceptable the lack of education these men have on the issue of marijuana and hemp. Legitimate farmers and business owners do not have the time or patience to deal with ignorance that could potentially cost money and ruin reputations. Now due to the way they went about this everyone in my community is under the impression I’m a criminal as opposed to a legitimate farmer.  I’m also disturbed by the lack of professionalism all of these men exhibited, instead of being reasonable they tried to intimidate and strong arm me into letting them do whatever they wanted. These men weren’t even aware of what the Final Rule is, which is the law regarding the rules and regulations of hemp farming. Based on what I’ve seen and heard, the Bureau of Narcotics has no place in the hemp farming industry because they see hemp as marijuana and treat farmers like criminals and violate their civil rights. In conclusion I will say beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jeff Overstreet and his team have no business setting foot on any compliant hemp farmers property based on their combativeness, lack of professionalism and complete ignorance of the rules and regulations regarding hemp farming.

Sincerely,

Jim McAllister and Deanna Matthews

Heat and Hemp Farms

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Click to see original Facebook post here..

https://www.facebook.com/107321528159615/posts/164183245806776/