An Ohio-based cannabis retailer that owns the nation’s largest chain of CBD retail kiosks in malls is selling most of that business to focus on running marijuana dispensaries instead. Green Growth Brands’ announcement last week caps a tumultuous year for the company, which laid off 50 workers in September... Read more
The United Kingdom became a trailblazer in national CBD regulation earlier this month when its Food Standards Agency set a deadline for the industry to apply for EU safety evaluations as a “novel food,” and also provided consumption guidelines to consumers. The UK guidelines, which do not apply to... Read more
Minnesota regulators are calling for a one-stop office that would oversee all aspects of hemp and medical marijuana – as as a potential adult-use MJ market. The office also would oversee the state’s fast-growing CBD market. A central office, among other things, would help the state deal with unregulated and... Read more
Dozens of employees have been laid off from an Oregon-based CBD company that launched less than five months ago, according to a newspaper report. Between 30 and 40 workers lost their jobs at Sentia Wellness, according to Oregonian sources. The company did not release an exact number. Located in Portland,... Read more
Canada’s public health agency is putting together its committee to study the potential health benefits of products containing cannabis. Health Canada announced Thursday that it will begin taking nominations for a panel of experts who “will provide independent scientific and clinical advice to support the Department’s consideration of appropriate... Read more
Kristen Nichols is the editor of Hemp Industry Daily. (This is an abridged version of a column that appears in the February issue of Marijuana Business Magazine.) Sometimes the most basic advice is the hardest to follow. Floss every day! Save more for retirement! The list goes on. … Politicians are no... Read more
Beauty retailer Sephora has released a set of baseline standards for CBD-infused products it will carry as the high-end cosmetics store adds a fourth line of hemp-derived topicals to store shelves. The Sephora CBD standards require that CBD products it sells: Include only full-spectrum or broad-spectrum CBD extracts, not... Read more
USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue addresses the nation’s state agriculture departments on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020 (Photo courtesy USDA) Federal agriculture officials are dropping the requirement that all THC testing on hemp crops must be performed at laboratories registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to industry sources.... Read more
First-time hemp farmers learned hard lessons about the cost of doing business in 2019, when many grew the crop on speculation, without harvest plans or contracts in place. Promised they could make upwards of $50,000 per acre, farmers looking for a reprieve from low crop prices and foreign tariffs... Read more
Georgia-Pacific, a giant in the paper-manufacturing industry, is partnering with a Canadian firm that uses hemp-based fibers for a variety of nonwoven products. Victoria, British Columbia-based Bast Fibre Technologies announced the agreement with Georgia-Pacific on Tuesday. BFT makes baby wipes and other personal-care fiber products. The company said the agreement... Read more
