Why Are CBD Products Exploding?

by Travis C | Mar 28, 2019 | 420, 420 News, Blog, Culture

It’s a unique compound that has Facebook moms and media outlets mystified. But why is CBD all the sudden exploding?

There’s a few reasons CBD products are becoming more popular every day, especially in the United States. The first has already been mentioned; the media. But we’ll get to that later. Let’s start with the recent legality change of CBD.

The 2018 Farm Bill

CBD is a chemical compound found only in the cannabis plant. It is present in almost all varieties of cannabis, even if in just trace amounts. This means that CBD is also found in hemp.

Hemp has had a bumpy relationship with the U.S. government since the early 1900s. While the hemp industry was huge in the 1920s, the paper industry was quickly rising, and couldn’t compete, starting a propaganda campaign eventually leading to the criminalization of hemp and cannabis.

At least, that’s the theory.

While hemp was considered federally illegal much like cannabis (they are the same thing), states could still pass their own laws regarding hemp, much like states now that have legal cannabis laws. Colorado even added an amendment to their state constitution, giving citizens the right the grow hemp.

But in 2018, it all changed. The 2018 Farm Bill fully legalized “industrial hemp” at the federal level.

The Legalization of Industrial Hemp

What is industrial hemp? What makes it different from “regular” hemp? This is where some people get caught up.

While hemp and cannabis are the same thing, any cannabis variety that gets you “high” contains high amounts of THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis. Most cannabis strains you can get in the legal market are bred to have as high THC levels as possible, with little focus on the other compounds.

Hemp has always been seen as the weedy, wild version of cannabis. It isn’t bred to have high THC, but through its evolution of enduring tough climates in the wild, hemp varieties naturally have higher CBD levels. However, not all hemp is legal, hence the term “industrial hemp”.

Industrial hemp is strictly cannabis that has a THC content of .3% or less. Anything above is still illegal. So even though .4 or .5% THC wouldn’t have any real affect on a person, it is considered psychoactive cannabis, still illegal and classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

So, now industrial hemp is legal, as long as it doesn’t surpass .3% THC. However there is no regulation for CBD at the moment. This has opened up quite a lucrative opportunity for cannabis industry entrepreneurs and farmers alike.

The Rise of CBD Products

CBD started out slow. Products existed, such as hemp seed oil and other hemp derived products that contained CBD, but little was known about the actual benefits of CBD. Then came Charlotte’s Web.

Charlotte was a little girl in California suffering from intense seizures, sometimes having dozens a day to the point she was incapacitated. After a cannabis farm in Northern California developed a CBD specific strain that had extremely low THC, but high CBD, they turned it into a digestible tincture for Charlotte.

Her seizures all but stopped. This is where the snowball started rolling.

More and more people started treating their children’s epilepsy with CBD, then more studies came out showing CBD potential in aiding with chronic pain. With its growing social acceptance, plus the added boost of the Farm Bill, more CBD businesses are opening their doors.

While it is still currently unregulated, there is an entire CBD marketplace that has developed online. From Amazon to CBD wholesaler websites, anybody can buy CBD products online with a credit card. With massive availability and a growing understanding of its benefits, all CBD needed to push over the edge was some media attention.

cbd products are becoming popular in the media

The Today Show covering the extraction of CBD from cannabis in a March 2019 segment.

The Influence Machine

To say that modern media outlets in America carry a large swath of influence would be a massive understatement. And with more news outlets than ever before in history accessible with just a few clicks, people are ingesting more information and influential content than ever before.

With the passing of the Farm Bill and increased public awareness about the benefits of CBD, people started talking online. What started as a niche group of mostly middle aged women sharing their experiences of helping their arthritis pain with a little CBD ointment, spread across the web like a bushfire.

Before long, CNN was covering the rise of CBD products. Soon after that, so was The Washington post. As did NBC, CBS, and even Fox News.

With the media machine pushing it into the mainstream, and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram flush with CBD anecdotes and articles, its rise was inevitable.

The question now is, will it last?

The Future of CBD Products

The future for CBD is still vague. It isn’t currently regulated by the FDA, and its only claim to legality lies within the rulings of the 2018 Farm Bill. There have already been plenty of issues with CBD and industrial hemp since legalization, and most likely, there won’t be any shortage of issues throughout 2019.

That doesn’t mean the market isn’t growing. In fact, the CBD industry is growing at a rate that could put it on pace to surpass legal cannabis by 2022. With that said, regardless of new regulations or restrictions, the future of CBD products is most likely bright, and green.

Want to learn more about the rise of CBD and the legal hemp industry? Check out this episode of The Real Dirt Podcast, featuring Graham Carlson of Charlotte’s Web, Mike Leago of the International Hemp Exchange, and Hollis Carter of Lefty’s Hemp Co.

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2018 Farm Bill Explained

by Travis C | Dec 18, 2018 | 420 News, Blog, Business, Growing

The 2018 Farm Bill has passed the House and Senate. After Trump signs, Industrial Hemp will be federally legal.

UPDATE: This article was written just before Trump’s signing. The article has now been updated to reflect the new status of the 2018 Farm Bill.

The 2018 Farm Bill has been signed by Donald Trump and passed into law, making Industrial Hemp federally legal. You might be thinking that it already was legal due to the 2009 Farm Bill, but not in the way you think.

This new bill (legally titled the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018) differs from the 2014 Farm Bill in a few ways. The biggest difference being the new definition of Industrial Hemp being added.

2014 Farm Bill

Five years ago, the 2014 Farm Bill was passed, which defined Industrial Hemp as, “the plant Cannabis Sativa L., and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 THC concentration of not more than 0.3% (on a dry weight basis).”

The 2014 bill also distinguished between marijuana and hemp for the first time. The laws enacted by the 2014 Farm Bill allowed for the cultivation of industrial hemp for research purposes, as part of an agricultural program, or as permitted by state law.

Also allowed under the previous bill was the study of the “marketing of Industrial Hemp”. The vagueness of this clause allowed states to set up agricultural pilot programs that also permitted commercial sales of industrial hemp. However, interstate commercial activity is not expressly permitted under the 2014 Farm Bill.

The 2018 Farm Bill changes that too.

2018 Farm Bill

The 2018 Farm Bill drastically alters the current legal landscape governing Industrial Hemp production in the United States.

First, the 2018 Farm Bill defines “hemp”as any part of the plant, “including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not,” with a THC concentration of not more than 0.3% THC on a dry weight basis. The 2018 Farm Bill also amends the CSA (Controlled Substances Act) to exclude “hemp” from the definition of “marihuana.”

The 2018 Bill also creates a specific exemption in the CSA for THC found in hemp. These expanded definitions and corresponding exemptions from the CSA could also apply to imported hemp. Meaning the new bill will allow for the importation and exportation of industrial hemp to and from the United States.

Unfortunately those convicted of a felony involving a controlled substance are barred from participating in any hemp program established under the 2018 Farm Bill. While lawmakers were hopeful that this would be revised in the final version of the bill, it appears that it wasn’t.

Federal Regulation of Industrial Hemp

The 2018 Farm Bill also amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (“AMA”) to allow for federally-sanctioned hemp production under the authority of the USDA. This means the USDA is now the sole federal regulatory agency overseeing hemp production in the United States.

However, states will be able to submit their own proposals to the USDA for state-regulated programs. These programs must stay within the confines of the USDA requirements, including:

a practice to maintain relevant information regarding land on which hemp is produced in the applicable jurisdiction;
a procedure for testing THC concentration levels of hemp produced in the applicable jurisdiction;
a procedure for the effective disposal of products produced in violation of the statute;
a procedure to comply with the statutory enforcement procedures;
a procedure for conducting annual inspections to verify that hemp is not produced in violation of the statute; and
other practices or procedures as the Secretary of Agriculture considers to be appropriate and consistent with the statute.

Should a state decide not to submit a plan for its own regulatory procedures, that state can simply apply for licensure directly through the USDA. In states with approved plans, all those participating in the program must adhere to the state laws that are established.

In addition, the 2018 Farm Bill explicitly states that “nothing in this title authorizes interference with the interstate commerce of hemp.” As such, the 2018 Farm Bill will open up clear legal pathways to interstate transport in the United States.

The 2018 bill also requires the USDA to conduct a study within 120-days of enactment to determine the economic viability of the domestic production and sale of hemp.

With the 2018 Farm Bill now signed and passed into law, it’s a matter of time before the hemp industry explodes. However, the 2014 Farm Bill will remain in effect until a solidified plan is established by the USDA, which will most likely take a year.

So don’t expect to see hemp products popping up at your local grocery store any time soon.