People frequently ask Shawn House if his pretzels are going to get them high.
The answer is always no, said House of Columbia, Lancaster County. His pretzels are made with hemp imported from Canada, not marijuana. In a perfect world, House would buy hemp from Pennsylvania farmers the same way he buys wheat.
A new state Senate bill, the industrial hemp bill, could get House one step closer to that dream.
House spoke Saturday at a Pennsylvania Hemp Conference during the 99th Pennsylvania Farm Show. The meeting was hosted by the Keystone Cannabis Coalition.
The conference aimed to teach visitors about the myriad uses for hemp and to introduce the bill, said Les Stark, an Exeter Township resident who is part of the coalition.