Hemp World is the brainchild of some of Idaho’s hardest-working cannabis activists. We’re not just another pop-up store pushing CBD products; we are advocates for the entire cannabis plant who have collectively over fifty years of experience working to educate the public and change the laws regarding marijuana in Oregon and Idaho.

So, when you buy your hemp and CBD products from Hemp World, whether here online or at our store in Boise’s Northgate Shopping Mall, you know that these are products used and endorsed by people who know a thing or two about the cannabis plant. Profits from our sales at Hemp World are returned to the community in public policy events such as Boise Hempfest and legislative lobbying and initiative efforts with the Idaho Cannabis Coalition.
Bill “Billy Dawg” Esbensen
Bill Esbensen has been the go-to guy for the fight to bring medical marijuana to Idaho since 2010. Bill has been the Chief Petitioner or primary spokesperson for every initiative attempted since then, and is currently the Boise area’s regional captain for the Idaho Cannabis Coalition’s initiative petition for medical marijuana in 2020.
Bill previously operated the 45th Parallel, a medical marijuana dispensary in Ontario, Oregon, the border town closest to the Boise metro area. Then, residents of any state could get an Oregon medical marijuana card, and many Idaho residents did. Bill’s dispensary was the primary source for all those medical marijuana patients.
Bill’s operation caught the attention of law enforcement, which conducted a sting on his dispensary as part of Operation Storefront. Despite Bill’s strict adherence to the policy of supplying medicine only to legitimate registered patients, vagaries in the definitions of “caregiver” and “reimbursement” allowed authorities to shutter the 45th Parallel and charge Bill with a number of marijuana crimes, for which he served 120 days in jail.
Ironically, not only are medical marijuana dispensaries like his perfectly legal in Oregon now, but just down the road from the old 45th Parallel location is one of Ontario’s three operating recreational marijuana stores.
Lori “Momma Duck” Duckworth
Lori Duckworth is a cancer survivor and longtime lobbyist and advocate for Oregon’s medical marijuana patients who was instrumental in the passage of numerous rules and regulations for the marijuana industry.
Lori has the dubious distinction of being the last person convicted of a marijuana felony in Oregon for providing medical marijuana to registered patients. Lori’s Southern Oregon NORML medical marijuana dispensary was raided by Oregon police as part of Operation Storefront, a law enforcement action against the best-known, well-run dispensaries operating in the north, south, and east of the state.
The state charged Lori with 29 felony counts over the raids that commenced just 10 days prior to the enactment of the 2013 Oregon law making dispensaries legal – a law Lori helped to make reality by providing tours to legislators who enshrined her best practices into that law. Lori pleaded guilty to one felony count that has been expunged as part of Oregon’s new legalization laws.
Lori is now bringing her political abilities to Idaho, assisting the Idaho Cannabis Coalition on their fight to place a medical marijuana initiative on the 2020 ballot. When she’s not fighting to expand access to medical cannabis, Lori is an accomplished urban chicken farmer, cannabis gardener, and advocates for Second Amendment rights.
“Radical” Russ Belville
Russ Belville – or “Radical” Russ, as he is known online – has been fighting for marijuana law reform for over fifteen years. As the National Outreach Coordinator for NORML, Russ has traveled over 300,000 air miles, reported live from hundreds of cannabis conferences, marijuana expos, hemp festivals, and legalization events in over 70 North American cities, and helped to form over five dozen local and international NORML chapters worldwide.
With well over 4,000 hours of podcasts and 2,000 published articles reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners and readers, Russ Belville is one of the most recognizable voices in the marijuana media. Russ is also one of America’s most trusted cannabis pundits, owing to thousands of hours of non-profit marijuana reform activism with NORML at the local, state, and national level, long before there was a legal cannabis industry.
Russ reported live from the moment legalization began at midnight under the Space Needle in Seattle in 2012 and on the Burnside Bridge in Portland in 2015 (the so-called “Burnside Burn” smoke-out Russ organized that brought out thousands of people) and covered the first legal marijuana sales in those cities as well. Russ has interviewed hundreds of celebrities, politicians, artists, scientists, athletes, doctors, patients, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs on all aspects of cannabis, including breaking the news of the first sitting US congressman to admit his use of medical marijuana.
Russ has also testified for marijuana reform in the Oregon statehouse and debated national reform opponents. Russ’s investigation of misused county drug education money during Oregon’s legalization campaign in 2014 was instrumental in the canceling of half of a planned anti-legalization tour planned by a leading prohibitionist. Russ then went on to report from the remaining half of the tour dates.
When Russ isn’t reporting on the world of weed, he enjoys American football, playing his bass guitar, and watching and reading political satire. He is also the spokesperson for the Idaho Cannabis Coalition’s campaign for the 2020 Idaho Medical Marijuana Act.