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Kristen Nichols

Kristen is a Denver-based reporter for Marijuana Business Daily specializing in the hemp and CBD industries. Previously, she worked at the Associated Press for nearly 20 years. She started covering the marijuana legalization movement in 2009 – when medical stores started popping up around Denver – and wrote about the state’s first legal hemp harvest. Kristen also covered agriculture and politics in Maryland and her home state of Georgia.

Texas ban on smokable hemp tossed, opening potential $400 million market

Published August 23, 2021 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

Texas’ ban on smokable hemp was thrown out Monday in a watershed decision that opens the nation’s second-largest state to a hemp sector that could see $400 million in annual sales by 2025.

Opinion: Cannabis industry needs regenerative organic farming, not modified seeds

Published August 23, 2021 | By David Bronner

As the legal cannabis industry continues to expand, it’s urgent that we understand the consequences of placing too much reliance on large industrial cannabis grown indoors under artificial lighting.

US Department of Energy funds hemp insulation research

Published August 20, 2021

The U.S. Department of Energy has designated hemp-fiber insulation a “game-changing” technology worth investing in, sponsoring a hemp executive to develop the sector over the next two years.

Hawaii bans smokable hemp, CBD drinks and gummies

Published August 19, 2021

CBD gummies and drinks and smokable hemp are off-limits in Hawaii under new rules adopted earlier this month.

Village Farms acquires CBD firm Balanced Health Botanicals for $75M

Published August 16, 2021

Canadian greenhouse produce and marijuana grower Village Farms International has acquired CBD company Balanced Health Botanicals in a stock-and-cash deal worth $75 million.

Editor’s Notebook: Marijuana-versus-hemp infighting on the West Coast a warning for all

Published August 16, 2021 | By Kristen Nichols

The message looked like a typical drug war-era political appeal, warning recipients in bold and capital letters that cannabinoids would find their way into the hands of children if they didn’t act now.

Hemp growers confront water challenges on top of oversupply

Published August 13, 2021 | By Laura Drotleff

Cannabis growers in the American West haven’t escaped the massive water shortages this year that have forced farmers growing crops such as almonds and blueberries to rip out plants or let them die in the field.

FDA rebuffs full-spectrum CBD as a dietary supplement

Published August 12, 2021

Federal health regulators have rejected the sale of a full-spectrum CBD product as a dietary supplement, a signal that CBD products will remain legal only by prescription in the U.S.

Oregon begins double-testing hemp for THC to root out illicit marijuana

Published August 12, 2021 | By Bart Schaneman

Oregon has a new law to test hemp crops not once but twice to root out illicit marijuana.

Solventless extraction goes big with new technology, better breeding

Published August 11, 2021 | By Kristen Nichols

So long, washing machines and plastic buckets.

Solventless cannabis extraction is going commercial, with an array of new technology expanding the niche sector beyond small-batch artisans.

Colorado to add 3rd DEA lab, provisional hemp testers in approved rules

Published August 10, 2021

The federal government has signed off on Colorado’s plan to add provisional testing labs and a third permanent testing lab for hemp THC levels as part of its overall changes to meet new federal requirements.

Pet Releaf CBD company taps veterinarian for sales to other veterinarians

Published August 9, 2021

A veterinarian with experience in cannabis will lead a new product line aimed at veterinarians from Denver’s Pet Releaf.