Marijuana Moment is a wire service assembled by Tom Angell, a marijuana legalization activist and journalist covering marijuana reform nationwide. The views expressed by Angell or Marijuana Moment are neither endorsed by the Globe nor do they reflect the Globe’s views on any subject area.
The US Department of Agriculture offered new insights into its rulemaking process for hemp regulations in a notice published in the Federal Register on Monday.
Of particular note is the deadline by which the USDA is aiming to release its “interim final rule” for the newly legal crop: August. Previously, the department simply said it would have the rules in place in time for the 2020 planting season.
“This action will initiate a new part 990 establishing rules and regulations for the domestic production of hemp,” the new notice states. “This action is required to implement provisions of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill).”
The hemp update is part of a larger regulatory agenda for various agencies that’s being released by the Trump administration.
A USDA spokesperson told Marijuana Moment that the August projection is the department’s “best estimate” for when the regulations will be released. It remains the USDA’s intention “to have the regulations in place by this fall to allow for a 2020 planting season.”
“However, the clearance process will dictate the actual timing of the publication,” the spokesperson said.
While USDA officials have said the department didn’t plan to expedite the regulatory process despite strong interest among stakeholders, it seems to be making steady progress so far. The department said in March that it has “begun the process to gather information for rulemaking.”
The USDA has also outlined the basic elements that will be required when states or tribes are eventually able to submit regulatory plans for federal approval. Those proposals will have to include information about the land that will be used for hemp cultivation, testing standards, disposal procedures, law enforcement compliance, annual inspections, and certification for products and personnel.
The new update comes about six months after hemp and its derivatives were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill. But until the USDA releases its guidelines, hemp farmers must adhere to the earlier rules established under a narrower research-focused provision of the 2014 version of the agriculture legislation.
While the rules are yet to be published and there are therefore some restrictions on what hemp farmers can lawfully do, the USDA has clarified several policies that have already gone into effect in recent months.
The HIA® Launches National Campaign Aimed at Changing Facebook’s Advertising Policy for the Hemp Industries
‘These are the times we can stand together in support of Our freedoms to flourish and Hemp’s freedoms to flourish!’Darlene Mea
FACEBOOK STOP CENSORING HEMP
PHOENIX, May 21, 2019 —
“With the passage of the farm bill, it seemed there would be a new dawn for stakeholders of the hemp industries absolving them from confusion over whether hemp was indeed a controlled substance — it’s not,” said Colleen Keahey Lanier, Executive Director of the Hemp Industries Association.
“But hemp entrepreneurs nationwide are currently being denied access to one of the most powerful marketing platforms in the world for small businesses restricted to outdated policies that continue to conflate hemp with marijuana. Not all of Cannabis is considered a drug, and Facebook’s new AI technology is already obsolete if it continues to recognize images of Cannabis as a controlled substance generally.”
Hemp Industries Association® (HIA®), in association with Hoban Law Group, Bluebird Botanicals, and Bish Enterprises, is launching a national campaign aimed at addressing Facebook’s current advertising policy of prohibiting the marketing and promotion of industrial hemp via Facebook and Instagram.
Marketing limitations posed by Facebook actually exceed what is required by law and have had a significant impact on hemp companies’ capacity to develop their digital presence. Facebook, with its 2.38 billion monthly users, represents a massive market for small businesses. For new entrepreneurs looking to break into the growing hemp industry, being denied access to the social media platform’s advertising capabilities represents a massive roadblock.
“But hemp entrepreneurs nationwide are currently being denied access to one of the most powerful marketing platforms in the world for small businesses restricted to outdated policies
that continue to conflate hemp with marijuana.
Not all of Cannabis is considered a drug, and Facebook’s new AI technology is already obsolete if it continues to recognize images of Cannabis as a controlled substance generally.”
“Our goal is to change Facebook’s current policy by applying pressure in the most public way possible,” said Lanier. “They use a wide-reaching platform to communicate and so are we.”
The digital advertisement, which simply reads “Facebook: Stop Censoring Hemp” will run daily in Times Square until August 24. In addition, the Association is coordinating a massive grassroots campaign among its more than 1,500 members in support of the much-needed policy change.
“We are asking all hemp supporters — advocates, farmers, processors, manufacturers, retailers and consumers — to join the movement and help us turn Facebook green,” Lanier said. “Hemp advertisements are allowed in Times Square, so why not on Facebook? Hemp is completely legal under federal law.”
This is the greatest news since the signing of full legalization for Hemp Dec 20th, 2018. Mexico wants to decriminalize all drugs and negotiate with the US to do the same. What are your thoughts, comment below!
Mexico’s president released a new plan last week that called for radical reform to the nation’s drug laws and negotiating with the United States to take similar steps.
The plan put forward by the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, often referred to by his initials as AMLO, calls for decriminalizing illegal drugs and transferring funding for combating the illicit substances to pay for treatment programs instead. It points to the failure of the decades-long international war on drugs, and calls for negotiating with the international community, and specifically the U.S., to ensure the new strategy’s success.
“The ‘war on drugs’ has escalated the public health problem posed by currently banned substances to a public safety crisis,” the policy proposal, which came as part of AMLO’s National Development Plan for 2019-2024, read. Mexico’s current “prohibitionist strategy is unsustainable,” it argued.
The document says that ending prohibition is “the only real possibility” to address the problem. “This should be pursued in a negotiated manner, both in the bilateral relationship with the United States and in the multilateral sphere, within the [United Nations] U.N.,” it explained.
Drug reform advocates have welcomed AMLO’s plan. Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, told Newsweek that the Mexican president’s plan “reflects a shift in thinking on drug policy that is taking place around the world, including here in the U.S.”
“The war on drugs has been extremely costly, not just in terms of government resources, but also human lives, and it has failed to accomplish its objective,” he explained. “Prohibition policies have, by and large, caused more harm to people and communities than the drugs they were intended to eliminate, and they haven’t come anywhere close to eliminating the supply or the demand.”
Last October, the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global coalition of 170 nongovernmental organizations working on drug policy issues, released a report that highlighted the “spectacular” failure and global increase in violence that has been caused by the war on drugs. Instead of curbing the problem, “consumption and illegal trafficking of drugs have reached record levels,” Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, wrote in the document’s foreword.
Veterans Cannabis Coalition to Unveil ‘Cannabis Bill of Rights’ in Nation’s Capital This Weekend
CANNABIS BILL OF RIGHTS
This Cannabis Bill of Rights has been thoughtfully collated by our good friends over at Veterans Cannabis Coalition and we cannot think of a better messenger to take these ten demands to the nation’s capital on behalf of all cannabis users.
In the past we have written about 5 Things We Must Demand From Any Future Cannabis Legalization Measures but, admittedly, it comes up short on outlining and defining all of the essential rights we intend to keep fighting for. So we’re proud to endorse this effort by Veterans Cannabis Coalition.
I. Freedom of self-care: no law or regulation shall infringe or impede an adult person’s absolute right to consume or otherwise use cannabis for any purpose.
II. Freedom of cultivation: no law or regulation shall prevent or restrict an adult person’s right to grow cannabis in their residence, whether rented, owned, or publicly-subsidized, for non-commercial purposes.
III. Freedom of the commons: all responsible government entities will ensure that unused or under-utilized public land and facilities are made available for non-commercial citizen cannabis collectives and co-ops.
IV. Freedom from taxation: no law or regulation shall levy direct taxes on any stage of the cannabis production process, from cultivation to consumer sales—cannabis should be treated for tax purposes as a food and medicine.
V. Freedom of restoration: all government judicial entities will endeavor to expunge, dismiss, and commute any and all cannabis related-convictions and charges for all persons with no cost to the individual.
VI. Freedom of possession: no law or regulation shall restrict or penalize personal cannabis possession and no cannabis can be seized by agents of the state without a court order.
VII. Freedom of association: no law or regulation shall restrict the ability of individuals to exercise their rights regarding cannabis collectively for non-commercial purposes.
VIII. Freedom of research: no law or regulation shall create specific barriers to the scientific investigation of cannabis.
IX. Freedom from criminalization: no law or regulation shall apply criminal penalties specific to the consumption, cultivation, possession, manufacture, sale, or transport of cannabis; any criminality related to cannabis (tax evasion, fraud, driving under the influence, etc.) shall be prosecuted under existing law.
X. Freedom from stigma: no law, regulation, or judicial action shall use the presence or consumption of cannabis as an aggravating or disqualifying factor in court proceedings, employment, or any other government considerations.
We asked Eric why Veterans Cannabis Coalition felt it was important to draft these demands.
“We think it’s important to frame cannabis legalization in a way that centers on the needs and rights of people,” said Goepel, adding, “It’s a plant and medicine that humans have used for thousands of years to great benefit. The law should not infringe on individual rights to use cannabis non-commercially.”
This Cannabis Bill of Rights has been thoughtfully collated by our good friends over at Veterans Cannabis Coalition and we cannot think of a better messenger to take these ten demands to the nation’s capital on behalf of all cannabis users.
In the past we have written about 5 Things We Must Demand From Any Future Cannabis Legalization Measures but, admittedly, it comes up short on outlining and defining all of the essential rights we intend to keep fighting for. So we’re proud to endorse this effort by Veterans Cannabis Coalition.
Though they are all perfectly concise and very self-explanatory, below we will briefly flesh out each plank, 1-10, with some relevant stories or examples that we have come across in our research or day to day experience in the culture and industry.
We are finally beginning to see and speak the truth – Industrial Hemp Is The Answer To Petrochemical Dependency. It’s time to Hemp the world!
This just in from FORBES –
Over the last three weeks, the Houston, TX area has been besieged by chemical fires—the latest resulting in the death of one person and the hospitalization of two others. A few weeks ago, another petrochemical facility caught on fire, consuming 11 storage tanks and sending toxic materials spewing into the air and Houston ship channel. During the initial fire, smoke billowing from the facility created a dark cloud that stretched over 20 miles across the City of Houston.
These types of incidents cast a pall over the petrochemical industry and reinforce the urgency of finding more environmentally-friendly—and human-friendly—solutions. Nonetheless, our dependency on petrochemicals has proven hard to overcome, largely because these materials are as versatile as they are volatile. From fuel to plastics to textiles to paper to packaging to construction materials to cleaning supplies, petroleum-based products are critical to our industrial infrastructure and way of life.
Smoke rising from a petrochemical fire at an Intercontinental Terminals Company facility drifts over Houston on Monday, March 18, 2019. Photo: David J. Phillip, STF / Associated Press
Although there are numerous companies and researchers attempting to use synthetic biology to obsolete our petro-industrial complex, much of this research is a long way from commercialization. Interestingly, however, there is a naturally-occurring and increasingly-popular material that can be used to manufacture many of the same products we now make from petroleum-derived materials—and you have undoubtedly already heard of it. That material is hemp.
Industrial hemp, not to be confused with marijuana, was recently removed from the federal government’s schedule of controlled substances in the 2018 Farm Bill. The crop can be used to make everything from biodegradable plastic to construction materials like flooring, siding, drywall and insulation to paper to clothing to soap to biofuels made from hemp seeds and stalks. Porsche is even using hemp-based material in the body of its 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport track car to reduce the weight while maintaining rigidity and safety.
With so much random information being thrown around the internet, it can be very difficult to differentiate what is true and what is false. New laws and bills are constantly being passed that create a great deal of confusion in the cannabis world.
Is CBD legal in all 50 states? Is it legal in the federal government? Do I need a prescription in order to consume CBD?
In this article I’m going to update you on the legal status of CBD, and only CBD, in the United States.
I will not cover the legal status of marijuana or any other substance.
What is CBD?
Surely, you’ve heard of the world-famous cannabis plant. Well cannabis comes in different forms such as potatoes at your local grocery store. One variation of cannabis is called hemp.
All cannabis plants contain cannabinoids, which are a group of similar compounds. The industrial hemp plant happens to contain large quantities of special cannabinoids known as cannabidiol or CBD for short.
Unlike marijuana which contains large quantities of the cannabinoid THC that is responsible for making you feel high, CBD will not make you high. CBD is completely non-psychoactive. Therefore, you will not experience feelings of hunger, uncontrollable laughter, or the perception of time slowing down.
However, CBD will provide many medicinal benefits including reducing inflammation, pain, anxiety, stress, migraines, seizures, depression, and the ability to obtain a much deeper sleep so you can wake up well rested and ready to tackle your daily tasks. CBD is now offered in a wide variety of forms ranging from gummies, gel caps, tinctures, creams, and e-liquids.
Is CBD Legal Under Federal Law?
The short answer to this question is…it depends.
On December 12, 2018 Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill that removed hemp-derived products from the Schedule 1 list under the Controlled Substances Act.
The bill was passed by a Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate with the intention of providing relief for farmers by allowing them to apply for insurance and grants.
Schedule 1 drugs are substances, chemicals, or drugs considered by the federal government to have no medical use and a high potential for abuse such as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.
Although the DEA refuses to remove marijuana from the schedule 1 list, the Farm Bill is considered to be the most important victory in the history of U.S. cannabis. This does not however, mean that all CBD products are now legal.
Only CBD products produced in compliance with the Farm Bill would be legal by federal law. This means that in order for a CBD product to be federally legal, it must meet all of the federal and state regulations, be THC free, and have used hemp derived from a licensed grower.
Nevertheless, the FDA made a statement that it reserves the right to regulate any and all cannabis compounds as it wishes, regardless of the Farm Bill.
Only one product known as Epidiolex contains the FDA’s approval and is classified as a schedule 5 drug, indicating the lowest risk for abuse or addiction.
Is CBD Legal in all 50 States?
CBD is not legal in all 50 states. State governments have the right to establish their own laws that govern the use of CBD within their borders.
Most states have different laws and regulations individually pertaining to CBD and marijuana.
If you reside in any of the following three states, you are not allowed under any circumstance to consume, posses, or distribute CBD.
Idaho
Nebraska
South Dakota
Ten states and Washington D.C. have completely legalized all forms of cannabis:
Alaska
California
Colorado
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Nevada
Oregon
Vermont
Washington
Washington D.C.
The remaining 36 states allow the use of CBD. However, of those 36 states, 15 have strict regulations pertaining to CBD.
If you reside in any of the following 15 states, there are laws stating certain conditions must be met in order to legally obtain CBD.
In order to legally posses CBD in Alabama, you must be in accordance to Leni’s Law which states you must be diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition and be undergoing treatment or you are part of a state-sponsored clinical trial.
Georgia only allows patients diagnosed with cancer, ALS, seizures, and other serious medical conditions to legally possess CBD. You can find the list of medical conditions here.
Indiana passed a law in March of 2018 stating that anyone can buy, sell, or possess CBD oil products as long as it contains no more than 0.3% THC.
In Iowa, the Department of Public Health has legalized CBD for individuals suffering from debilitating medical conditions. If you reside in Iowa and you suffer from a serious medical condition that is not yet approved, you can submit a petition to buy CBD here.
In 2018, Kansas passed the Senate Bill 282 allowing any adult to legally purchase CBD as long as the product contains 0% THC.
In 2017, Kentucky approved the House Bill 333 that legalized the consumption and retail sale of CBD containing up to 0.3% THC .
In 2014, Mississippi legalized CBD for epileptic patients. However, the products must contain more than 15% CBD, cannot exceed 5% THC, have been obtained or tested from the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi and dispensed by the Department of Pharmacy Services at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
North Carolina has legalized CBD containing less than 0.3% THC for patients who suffer from severe epilepsy and is produced in compliance with the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Commission regulations.
Oklahoma legalized the consumption of CBD for patients of all ages suffering from spasticity, paraplegia, nausea, vomiting, and appetite stimulation under the condition that it is recommended by a doctor. Unfortunately, no laws have been passed allowing individuals to distribute CBD.
In 2014, South Carolina passed Julian’s Law which legalized the possession and use of CBD for epileptic patients who obtain a recommendation from a physician.
In 2016, Tennessee legalized the use of CBD containing no more than 0.9% THC for epileptic patients who have been properly diagnosed and individuals who possess a legal order.
Texas allows the use of CBD for epileptic patients. However, the product must contain at least 10% CBD and 0.5% THC.
Virginia legalized CBD oil to treat any medical condition as long as the patient was diagnosed by a licensed practitioner.
In 2017, Wisconsin legalized the use of CBD with a physician’s approval for any medical condition.
Wyoming has legalized CBD use but only for patients with epilepsy who have been unsuccessfully treated with various alternatives. Their petition for the possession and use of CBD must be approved by the state’s Department of Health.
If you look at the image below, you can obtain a much better visualization of the state laws regarding CBD:
Take Away
Despite the fact that the DEA isn’t (for the most part) using its authority to regulate CBD, you should nevertheless stay informed on the laws and regulations that apply to your state and local government.
New bills are constantly being introduced that may change the legal status of CBD.
It is possible that by the time you’ve read this article, some of the statements written on here have changed.
