A peculiar regulatory crackdown has blindsided hemp farmers in certain states, costing them licenses and livelihoods after entering newly legal state cannabis industries. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees hemp cultivation regulation nationally per the 2018 Farm Bill’s provisions removing non-psychoactive hemp from Controlled Substances Act purview. While 33 states administer their own USDA-approved hemp oversight programs with licenses, a few rely on direct USDA management, including Vermont and Mississippi. Under this federal licensing, home cultivators like Sam Bellavance successfully grew boutique hemp crops for years, benefiting regional access to CBD medicines. But recently, a frightening pattern emerged.
My courageous struggle to stay high through the marijuana dark ages of the ‘80s and…
When I first started writing this, I thought it would be a quick explainer of…
Grenada’s reform is building regional momentum, but Bermuda’s path runs straight into a UK veto,…
The hemp boom moved fast. In the years following the 2018 Farm Bill, thousands of…
Flowers & Terps and Universal Growing are joining forces in a move that blends flower…
Rolling papers aren’t props. They’re the instrument that sets the pace and feel of a…