Austria’s Minister of Health ordered businesses to immediately stop selling CBD food and cosmetics because the products fall under the European Union’s definition of “novel food.” Cannabidiol is explicitly included in the EU’s novel food catalog, which means individual member countries may limit the marketing and sale of it without... Read more
A subsidiary of Canada cannabis giant Canopy Growth is stepping up investment in an Italian hemp company. Canopy Rivers announced last week that will spend 17.4 million Canadian dollars ($13 million) to increase its ownership in CanapaR Corp., the parent company of CanapaR SrL, a hemp-derived CBD manufacturer based... Read more
A regulatory change in New Zealand has opened the doors to hemp as food in the island nation. “Hemp seeds are safe to eat and nutritious,” Bryan Wilson, head of New Zealand Food Safety, said in the announcement about the changes that now allow the sale of hempseed foods. The... Read more
A Canadian cannabis company has bought a Polish hemp firm to expand CBD production in Europe. International Cannabis Corp. (ICC) announced Tuesday that it has acquired Polannabis Holdings, which includes a company that grows 850 acres of hemp and has licenses to extract CBD. ICC is paying 2.5 million... Read more
When Canada’s legal recreational marijuana market launches Wednesday, the nation will also allow its roughly 250 hemp farmers to sell flower for CBD extraction – a change that could have a global impact on CBD prices. “There are a lot of hemp producers who have been saving and drying... Read more
A Colorado research firm that is working on THC-free hemp cultivars is the first U.S. acquisition by Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth Corp. Canopy has agreed to acquire Evergreen-based Ebbu for $25 million Canadian dollars ($19.3 million) and 6.2 million shares, the Ontario company announced Monday, and will pay another... Read more
A government-owned petroleum firm in Poland has struck a deal to produce bioethanol from hemp. Grupa Lotos, one of the 10 largest fuel companies in Central Europe by sales, entered the agreement with the state-owned Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants, Hemp Today reported. The Institute grows and... Read more
Cannabis biopharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals is setting out to sell $300 million worth of U.S. depository shares. The London-based company’s announcement comes on the heels of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s move to take some cannabidiol products off the most restrictive class of controlled substances. That change will allow Epidiolex – a... Read more
Australian CBD company Elixinol Global raised $40 million Australian dollars ($29 million) in a new share placement to ramp up sales and marketing efforts in the United States and Europe. The capital raise comes less than a week after the company announced its wholly owned subsidiary, EXL International Holdings, increased its... Read more
(This is an abridged version of a column that appears in the September issue of Marijuana Business Magazine.) Hemp is in an economic fast lane, with new ventures starting every day. So, it may seem odd to say modern entrepreneurs should consider 19th century railroads. But those railroad magnates faced... Read more
