In two separate meetings over the past two days, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration offered a glimpse of potential CBD regulations to come and promised an April hearing to start work. FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told state agriculture regulators that products not approved by the FDA and marketed... Read more
A Colorado CBD company seeking the release of hemp seized in Idaho has been granted an appeal from a federal court, but it could be months before the case is resolved. Big Sky Scientific said that nearly 7,000 pounds of industrial hemp seized in Idaho last month was taken unlawfully under... Read more
North Dakota’s highest court has decided not to rule on the legality of hemp-derived CBD, upholding a drug conviction for a vape-shop owner who sold CBD. The court said that the retailer, Falesteni A. Abu Hamda, should have made his CBD argument earlier instead of accepting the state’s case against... Read more
A California hemp seed company and a traditional agriculture biotech firm have been tapped to breed improved industrial hemp cultivars for California. California Hemp Corp., based in Oakdale, and Benson Hill Biosystems, a Missouri crop-improvement company, have partnered in a sponsored research agreement with the University of California, Davis (UC... Read more
(This is an abridged version of a story that appears in the February issue of Marijuana Business Magazine.) The CBD industry is in desperate need of an idiot-proof way to distinguish legal CBD from illegal varieties derived from marijuana. Could the solution be found in Utah? The conservative western state... Read more
Two large cannabis companies said Monday they are investing in developing their own lines of hemp-derived products by opening subsidiary companies. Chicago-based Cresco Labs, a vertically integrated, multistate cannabis operator, is opening Well Beings to offer a full line of hemp-derived products eligible for national distribution, as well as CBD... Read more
Hemp farmers in Arizona can now begin planting two months earlier than originally planned, thanks to a bill signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey. State Sen. Sonny Borrelli of Lake Havasu City sponsored the bill, which could permit farmers to plant as early as June rather than waiting for... Read more
GW Pharmaceuticals, the British maker of epileptic seizure-control medication Epidiolex, said it was not aware of any supply issues related to the cannabis-derived drug after a tweet from a patient’s father complained he could not source the medicine. GW’s stock was down more than 3% on Wednesday on the... Read more
Cannabis giant Tilray is expanding into the natural foods category with the acquisition of hemp foods company Manitoba Harvest for 419 million Canadian dollars ($319 million) in cash and stock in an effort to capitalize on cannabidiol-infused products in North America. The acquisition will accelerate British Columbia-based Tilray’s expansion... Read more
As companies prepare for legal changes to the hemp industry after the plant’s federal reclassification, a sleeping giant in the CBD sector is beginning to step into its full financial potential: skin-care products. The $18 billion U.S. skin-care industry is seeing a flood of CBD entrants, including large retailers such... Read more
