Comment

Comment by Dave churbuck on December 21, 2018 at 1:45pm

 This can really help the country and the enviroment.

Good on America.

https://www.hemphelps.org/6-reasons-why-hemp-is-better-than-cotton/

Comment by Boris on December 21, 2018 at 11:13am

Hemp has been illegal for 81 years wow, till today

Comment by Central Scrutinizer on December 20, 2018 at 9:25pm

been legal in VA almost 2 years ;)

Comment by Boris on December 20, 2018 at 9:16pm

By
Max
A. Cherney
Tech reporter

Industrial hemp is now legal in the U.S., which could loosen laws around the popular marijuana extract CBD.

President Donald Trump signed the 2018 farm bill on Thursday afternoon, which legalized hemp — a variety of cannabis that does not produce the psychoactive component of marijuana — paving the way to legitimacy for an agricultural sector that has been operating on the fringe of the law. Industrial hemp has made investors and executives swoon because of the potential multibillion-dollar market for cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound that has started to turn up in beverages, health products and pet snacks, among other products.

The farm bill is a sprawling piece of legislation that sets U.S. government agricultural and food policy for the country and is renewed roughly every five years. This version of the bill places industrial hemp — which is defined as a cannabis plant with under 0.3% of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — under the supervision of the Agriculture Department and removes CBD from the purview of the Controlled Substances Act, which covers marijuana. The law also “explicitly” preserved the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate products containing cannabis, or cannabis-derived compounds.

Don’t miss: Everything you need to know about CBD

The overall effect is not assured because, like cannabis — which is illegal under U.S. federal law although some states have allowed medical or recreational use — states will continue to be able to enact laws related to CBD and industrial hemp, allowing for a potential patchwork of legislation across the country. Other questions remain in terms of how exactly the Agriculture Department will regulate the plant.

As CBD goes mainstream and beverage giants, food companies and others have begun to take serious interest in the roughly $2 billion U.S. market. Tilray Inc. TLRY, +10.28% announced a partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev SA BUD, -1.48% this week to research marijuana-based beverages, and Constellation Brands Inc. STZ, -3.03% has invested heavily in pot producer Canopy Growth Corp. Other large companies, like Molson Coors Brewing Co. TAP, -0.92% , have invested in research, and Coca-Cola Co. KO, -0.75% and others have at least considered making a play for the space.

Opinion: Marijuana beverages are the new thing, but investors should only take sips

Smaller companies focused on CBD beverages, such as New Age Beverages Corp. NBEV, +8.73% , have been targeted by investors, but some firms have used CBD-related announcements to pump stock prices as well as fuel excitement in a compound that scientists do not fully understand. Other companies operating in the sector will benefit too: Charlotte’s Web Holdings Inc. CWBHF, +9.17% has focused on a range of CBD products, capturing about 17% market share in 2017 with sales in 3,000 retail locations, according to PI Financial research.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cbd-and-hemp-are-now-legal-in-the...