As 2018 drew to
\nan end, the cannabis industry faced a seismic change: Congress had passed (and President
\nTrump had signed) the 2018 Farm Bill, thereby legalizing hemp \u2014 defined as
\ncannabis with less than 0.3 percent THC. Cannabis reporters\u2019 inboxes filled up
\nwith statements from industry folk \u201ccelebrating\u201d and \u201capplauding\u201d the federal
\ngovernment for removing industrial hemp from the list of federally controlled
\nsubstances. They were mostly celebrating one thing: the cannabinoid CBD now had
\na path to mainstream legality.<\/p>\n
Despite hemp\u2019s murky legal status before the Farm Bill, CBD<\/a> has become a huge health-and-wellness trend, popping up in coffee shops, cocktail bars and health-food stores all over the country. The hemp-CBD industry ballooned to $590 million in 2018, according to Bethany Gomez, director of research for the Brightfield Group. Hemp farmers can earn $200 to $400 an acre if their crops are going into textiles, building materials and plastics. But crops heading towards CBD extraction can fetch thousands of dollars per acre, reported the Wall Street Journal<\/a>. <\/p>\n So what does hemp legalization mean for cannabinoids<\/a> such as CBD being treated as a commodity? <\/p>\n Unfortunately for A lack of clarity hasn\u2019t stopped traditional retailers from jumping into the space, with both DSW and Neiman Marcus<\/a> announcing in January that they would start stocking CBD cosmetics<\/a>. The CBD trend is only poised to grow as mainstream companies get in on the action. But it isn\u2019t only CBD: hemp plants can produce other cannabinoids, too.<\/p>\n The CBD trend will \u201cabsolutely 100%\u201d extend to other cannabinoids, said Cristina Buccola, an attorney who has worked with marijuana and hemp companies. \u201cThere\u2019s already a commodification of other cannabinoids, including CBG<\/a> and CBDV\u2026 As more people get educated and as research avenues open up \u2014 it\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d <\/p>\n Indeed, cannabis businesses are already developing ways to produce minor cannabinoids in greater quantities, hoping to harness their (still little-researched) therapeutic properties. Companies like Ebbu<\/a>, which was acquired by Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth<\/a> last October, see a future in which the cannabis market will be dominated by isolated cannabinoids. Other companies are looking to produce cannabinoids without the help of cannabis, such as growing them on genetically edited yeast. <\/p>\n The proposition Pharma companies have already developed an interest in other cannabinoids. In February 2018, the FDA gave orphan drug status to a cannabigerol (CBG) derivative produced by Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals for treating Huntington\u2019s disease. Across the pond, the European Medicines Agency gave orphan drug status for cannabidivarin (CBDV) to GW Pharmaceuticals<\/a>, the company that also produces the first FDA-approved CBD drug in the U.S. <\/p>\n Given that industrial hemp can produce all these minor cannabinoids, where does that leave the much-appreciated THC? After all, there\u2019s no meaningful difference between marijuana and industrial hemp plants, as they are now legally defined, using the arbitrary designation<\/a> that hemp contains less than 0.3 percent THC. Researchers and businesses alike will find it easier to work with industrial hemp, and may choose to focus their efforts there until the feds fully legalize cannabis. But there\u2019s definitely a long way to go before cannabinoids are truly a commodity. <\/p>\n If the U.S. \u201cWe\u2019re still \u201cI don\u2019t think we TELL US<\/strong>, do you choose products based on their cannabinoid profiles? <\/p>\n Originally published in print edition of Cannabis Now. LEARN MORE<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The post What Does Hemp Legalization Mean for Selling CBD?<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As 2018 drew to an end, the cannabis industry faced a seismic change: Congress had passed (and President Trump had signed) the 2018 Farm Bill, thereby legalizing hemp \u2014 defined as cannabis with less than 0.3 percent THC. Cannabis reporters\u2019 inboxes filled up with statements from industry folk \u201ccelebrating\u201d andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[605,50,10189,461,136,3995,4659,1297,5741,6846,3157,296,85,10190,420],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43951,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43950\/revisions\/43951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nsome hemp operators, the Farm Bill wasn\u2019t immediately the miracle legislation
\nthat they\u2019d hoped for. After the bill\u2019s passage, as the Department of
\nAgriculture continues to craft the rules around hemp, business owners have seen
\ntheir CBD products confiscated by U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials
\nand their hemp shipments seized by law enforcement for crossing state lines. The
\nFDA has insisted that CBD is a
\ndrug, and therefore illegal to add to other products without FDA approval. While
\nthe industry continues to grow, it\u2019s still unclear how the federal agency will
\nmanage the disconnect between CBD as a federally regulated drug and a thriving
\nindustry that views the non-intoxicating cannabinoid as a dietary supplement. <\/p>\nThe Other Players in the Entourage<\/h4>\n
\nis sure to cause consternation among cannabis consumers who tout the entourage
\neffect of the cannabis plant. But for a more cannabis-na\u00efve consumer, the
\npromise of consistent formulations could be an attractive selling point. Then
\nthere\u2019s the pharmaceutical industry, which has long been isolating compounds
\nfrom plants to turn them into drugs.<\/p>\nTHC\u2019s Status in the Cannabinoid Market <\/h4>\n
\nrepeals cannabis prohibition, there are other countries to contend with.
\nRecently, narcotics officers raided a beauty supply store in Singapore,
\nconfiscating a bunch of mascara. The offense? The mascara contained oil derived
\nfrom hemp seeds. Has anyone told the Singaporean authorities that the stuff
\nwon\u2019t get you high? <\/p>\n
\novercoming the stigma of cannabis in so many ways, including educating people
\nabout THC and industrial hemp, and eliminating concerns about \u2018getting high,\u2019\u201d
\nsaid Buccola, who demurred when asked to prognosticate about the future of the
\nmarijuana and hemp markets. <\/p>\n
\ncan even put our arms around what that looks like because there are so many
\nlayers of prohibition and misinformation to peel back before we can understand
\nthe potential of either market.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: What Does Hemp Legalization Mean for Selling CBD?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"