Colorado Department of Agriculture Director Kate Greenberg lays out the many ways she believes our state is leading the way in hemp.
“Basically, we kick butt. We had one of the first hemp programs in the country, and there’s still only a few across the country. Folks are racing post-2018 Farm Bill to set something up, but we are five years ahead of the curve, having our own hemp program.”
Free from the Feds? Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden introduced legislation in the Senate — The Marijuana Revenue and Regulation Act— that would deschedule marijuana by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), establish a federal excise tax on legal sales and create a system of permits for businesses to engage in cannabis commerce. This would allow states to establish their own cannabis regulations free from federal interference.
Wyden also introduced another piece of legislation exempting state-legal cannabis businesses from what is known as 280(E), which prevents them from taking normal business tax deductions that are available to operators in other industries. Co-sponsors include Colorado’s senior U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.
From “unalterably opposed” to legalization to “I’m all in” Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner announced a new, industry-funded group to lobby for marijuana reform in banking, taxes and research in an effort to overhaul federal cannabis policy.
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Riding the hemp waveThe USDA is now working to implement plans for increased hemp research and provision of oversight to state plans for growing hemp. As the USDA makes laws clearer, CBD retailers will enter the U.S. market in a major wave.
For a look at the growth of Colorado’s hemp industry: