Happy New Year (name),

As we look forward to 2022 I want to take a moment to look back on what we’ve accomplished together. And looking toward the future growth of the industry, I am working on a series of real-time collaboration and networking events for hemp business owners that I share more about below.
When we started Vote Hemp in 2000 we had a goal to change state and federal policy to bring back hemp farming. Today that goal has been achieved with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill and updated state laws that now recognize hemp farming in all 50 states.
If you sent letters or met with elected officials, created and/or sold hemp products, or helped to promote the benefits of hemp, you played an important role in helping us reach our goal.

Here are just a few of our important achievements:
  • Led the effort to overturn the DEA Hemp foods ban in 2001
  • First Industrial Hemp Farming Act in 2005
  • Passage of Hemp Research Amendment to the Farm Bill in 2013

Vote Hemp used grassroots tactics and always kept it bipartisan. I couldn’t be more proud to see hemp being grown across the country helping to create thousands of new jobs.
I am excited to share a couple things I’ve been working on now that we’ve reached our goal with Vote Hemp. We still have critical work ahead of us to create a strong, dynamic, and successful hemp industry.

One thing I have been doing is supporting the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to establish a hemp program to catalyze their efforts to grow their hemp farming programs.

Additionally, I am really excited to share a new project I am working on called
Hemp OpenSpace to get us there.
This interactive networking event brings hemp industry leaders and entrepreneurs together online to connect in real time, discuss the topics that are important to you, share tips learned from experience, and tackle common challenges together.


“It was a phenomenal event” says Franny Tacy, CEO of Franny’s Farmacy, a popular chain of retail outlets across the US featuring hemp products.
The first event in December drew 99 participants from 10 countries, and the second Hemp OpenSpace event is happening on January 19, 2022. If you run a hemp business you definitely won’t want to miss out on this event.

You can learn more at www.HempOpenSpace.com.
I want to extend special thanks to Vote Hemp board members past and present: David Bronner, Patrick Goggin, Erik Rothenberg, Lloyd Hart, Steve Levine, Eric Lineback, Christina Volgyesi and Rick Trojan. I want to thank Ben Droz who worked with us for many years on Capitol Hill, opening doors and educating Congress about the importance of bringing back hemp farming. I also want to thank our PR team members Lauren Stansbury, Adam Eidinger, and Ryan Fletcher.

Sadly, Steve Levine passed away January 1, 2022. He had a tremendous impact on our hemp legalization efforts and could be always be seen with a huge smile on his face. Read our tribute to Steve on the Vote Hemp website.
Eric Steenstra
Vote Hemp President