When Ben Williams added hemp seeds to his recipe while fermenting vodka, a curious thing happened: His yields got larger and what started as a hobby became a business opportunity. With friend and co-founder, Wendell Robbins III, Williams created Highway Vodka, a hemp-based spirit now sold throughout Texas, Georgia... Read more
Minnesota hemp farmers are seeing improved THC testing this year, state agriculture officials report. Minnesota’s rate for “hot” hemp crops that have had to be destroyed because they exceed the legal THC limit of 0.3% is at 5%-10% this year, the Grand Fork Herald reported. In 2019, there was... Read more
Consumers are already going gangbusters for CBD in every formulation imaginable. But the current use rate for hemp-CBD products isn’t even close to what it could be when the industry sees federal regulation, which would open up mainstream manufacturing and retail markets even further. For 2019, total sales of... Read more
The Isle of Man, a self-governing British dependency located between Ireland and England, has announced plans to create an export-only sector for hemp and cannabis products. The island government said it was seeking input on its plans for establishing and regulating its would-be cannabinoid industry, noting Friday that a... Read more
European flags in front of the Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European commission in Brussels. The European Parliament has voted to raise the THC limit for industrial hemp from 0.2% to 0.3% and allow hemp and hemp-derived products to be subject to European Union marketing standards. The votes came... Read more
Indiana’s hemp regulations have won federal approval and will be in place for the 2021 growing season – while another hemp state with federal approval, Tennessee, is bowing out of the federal framework for another year. The Indiana plan was announced this week by Purdue University. Hemp there will... Read more
Nine members of Congress have asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for clarity on a rule the hemp industry says will wrongly criminalize production of extracts in some cases. The letter asks DEA administrator Timothy Shea to protect hemp producers. “Since the Farm Bill legalized hemp along with hemp derivatives,... Read more
(This column appears in the October edition of Marijuana Business Magazine.) It might seem like hemp isn’t on the ballot this election cycle. Hemp policy is not much of a talking point in the presidential debate. And in the hard-fought battle for control of the U.S. Senate, hemp entrepreneurs can rest assured that the... Read more
Italy has added ingestible formulas with flower-derived CBD to a table of medicines in its narcotics law, paving the way for GW Pharmaceuticals’ epilepsy drug Epidiolex to hit the market there but also raising questions about the status of other CBD products. The Health Ministry’s decree sparked anger and... Read more
Colorado-based Pet Releaf, maker of CBD products for pets, has named Rod Millott as its new chief financial officer. The position was newly created as the company experiences “momentous growth,” said Stephen Smith, Pet Releaf co-founder and president. “We are thrilled to welcome Rod to the Pet Releaf team... Read more
