North Carolina hemp firm seeks tax breaks from CBD extraction facility plans

A North Carolina hemp producer’s renovation of a former factory for CBD extraction sets it up for roughly $238,500 in tax incentives over the next four years.

City of Wilson officials are lauding Criticality’s retrofitting for CBD production as an innovative new use for the building, The Wilson Times reported.

The tax incentive package will be voted on next month.

“This will add to our agribusiness and life-science base in Wilson,” Economic Development Executive Director Jennifer Lantz told the newspaper.

Criticality, based in Hobgood, North Carolina, was the first American cannabis firm to snag direct investment from a tobacco firm.

Pyxus International, formerly Alliance One International, bought a 40% stake in the industrial hemp company last year, with an option for consolidation of up to 50% by 2020. Terms of that deal weren’t disclosed.

Criticality’s new facility is adjacent to Pyxus and will extract CBD from hemp for use in THC-free vape oils.

Pyxus, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange as PYX, told investors earlier this month the company anticipates there will be up to 37 million CBD customers in the U.S. and Canada by 2022.

Pyxus has also invested in Canadian marijuana companies Canada’s Island Garden and Goldleaf Pharm.