Right before Christmas, World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Famer President Trump signed a popular bipartisan bill that fully legalized the cultivation and use of industrial hemp.
Hemp is a type of cannabis that differs substantially from marijuana that is used primarily for industrial purposes. In 2017, more than $800 million worth of hemp products were reportedly produced in the U.S. in states that permitted it, but the legalization of hemp nationwide included in the 2018 farm bill is expected to open the floodgates. Proponents hope it will help the agriculture industry.
It’s also helping the professional wrestling industry.
Tuesday night on WWE’s “Smackdown Live!” on the USA Network, the WWE champion Daniel Bryan unveiled a new title made from “100% sustainable, organic hemp.”
THIS is the new symbol of excellence.
Say hello to the new 100% SUSTAINABLE HEMP #WWEChampionship! #SDLive @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/2C8yszzAko
— WWE (@WWE) January 30, 2019
The crowd went wild.
Which is interesting. Bryan is a wrestling bad guy, or what fans call a “heel.” His character is a vegan, eco-friendly do-gooder who constantly lectures the audience on the sins of consumerism, wastefulness, and trashing the planet.
The hilarious tweet below gives you a good idea of where Bryan is coming from. It’s a response to a concessions advertisement coming from the arena, Chase Field in Phoenix, where he performed two nights prior to introducing his new title.
Chase Field should be ashamed of themselves. Made from factory farmed pigs, an intelligent and extremely social mammal, and cheese from cows, who’s baby’s were ripped away from them. THEN add the heart disease delivered to the people who eat it. #SHAME #TheWorstGeneration https://t.co/6zlJ5zpyRN
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) January 24, 2019
Still, when Bryan announced his new hemp title, the audience loved it, cheering the villain.
Daniel Bryan just threw the WWE title in the trash because, as an environmentalist/vegan, he despised that it was made of leather. He has replaced it with a championship belt made of HEMP and wood.
Pro wrestling is amazing sometimes. pic.twitter.com/bkoAGSy0qx
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) January 30, 2019
Hemp is popular with more than just wrestling fans.
In many polls for many years, most Americans have supported the legalization of hemp. A 2013 HuffPost/YouGov poll found that 56 percent of Americans were in favor of making hemp legal.
That year, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced an amendment to the farm bill that would legalize hemp domestically. Needless to say, it wasn’t legalized at the federal level six years ago.
When Trump signed the farm bill last month that included the hemp amendment, the sponsors were, again, Democrats Wyden and Merkley, along with Republicans Paul and Senate Majority Leader McConnell. These senators had been pushing hemp legalization for many years before Trump finally signed it in December.
Who would have ever thought America would have to wait for a Republican president and a GOP Congress to make hemp legal?
Libertarian Republicans like Rand Paul, and Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Justin Amash, R-Mich., had been at the forefront of pushing this issue, including within their party, for some time.
In 2013, Paul spoke to Kentucky’s agricultural committee in favor of legalization, wearing a hemp shirt made in Canada, demonstrating one of its many uses that U.S. farmers could benefit from in cultivating the plant themselves.
Hemp production had been legal in Paul’s state of Kentucky prior to Trump’s signing last year. McConnell made this point in December when the hemp bill advanced in the Senate earlier in the month.
“I used my very own hemp pen to sign the conference report, clearing the way for the House and Senate to pass legislation and send it to the president’s desk,” McConnell said. “It’s a victory for farmers and consumers throughout our country.”
It’s a literal victory for WWE champion Daniel Bryan.
Hemp is becoming mainstream in the United States, something that has been reflected in pop culture for some time with WWE being the latest example. That when wrestling fans heard and read on social media the word “hemp” Tuesday night they elicited such a positive reaction tells us plenty about its widespread acceptance. Actual marijuana (confusion with which has always impeded hemp’s legalization) is not far behind hemp in receiving majority support (even from Republicans!).
Hemp is popular. President Trump likely knew this before signing this bill. It also leaves one to wonder why it couldn’t have happened sooner.
Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.
