EMAIL: kristenn@mjbizdaily.com
PHONE: 720.643.4450

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.


Nevada hemp company seeks right to grow on city-owned land

Nevada’s capital city is facing a lawsuit from a hemp cultivator blocked from growing the crop on about 100 acres of city-owned property. Tahoe Hemp filed suit against Carson City last month, saying the municipality acted in bad faith when it blocked the company from growing hemp on 100 acres. Carson City officials said some […]

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Oregon wholesale marijuana flower prices rise after growers exit market, some pivot to hemp

Oregon marijuana growers report wholesale flower prices are improving, which is welcome news for recreational cannabis cultivators in one of the country’s previously most oversupplied MJ markets. The changed business climate is even leading some growers to expand facilities and ramp up production. Marijuana growers in the state report wholesale flower prices per pound are […]

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Hemp fiber manufacturer Sunstrand files for bankruptcy

Kentucky hemp fiber manufacturer Sunstrand has filed for bankruptcy protection in federal court. The privately held company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a type of bankruptcy sometimes called straight or liquidation bankruptcy. Based in Louisville, Sunstrand said it has between $100,001 and $500,000 in assets but owes more than $10 million. Its listed creditors include Hemp Traders, […]

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Colorado joins hemp states giving up on USDA approval for 2020 season

Colorado is the latest hemp state to withdraw its request to win federal approval for regulating the crop in 2020. The state’s governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner said Colorado will not seek U.S. Department of Agriculture approval for 2020, joining several other markets that are exercising the option to use their old hemp rules until […]

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Extractor seeking return of hemp from Idaho dealt another setback

A Colorado CBD manufacturer is considering another appeal on its quest to get back hemp biomass seized last year in Idaho. Big Sky Scientific of Aurora, Colorado, received another rejection last week from an Idaho judge. The company is trying to get Idaho State Police to return roughly 6,700 pounds of biomass seized last year […]

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As USDA comments close, 30 states face law changes, group warns

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) closes an extended public-comment period on its national hemp regulations Wednesday, the agency’s state-level counterparts are warning that the young industry will be harmed if changes aren’t made. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture wrote in an open letter that the interim final rule released by […]

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Sale of hemp tea in Germany leads to probation for store owners

A German court has sentenced the operators of hemp retail shop Hanfbar to several months on probation for selling hemp tea. The judge ruled that the tea is banned by the Germany Narcotics Law, Braunschweiger Zeitung reported. Business partners Marcel Kaine and Bardia Hatefi will serve nine and seven months on probation, respectively, for selling hemp flower […]

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Australia considers allowing some over-the-counter CBD products

Australian health authorities are considering a new scheduling status for CBD, potentially making it available over the counter in low doses as early as this year. The change could open a large new market in a nation with a thriving gray market for CBD but no legal access without a doctor’s prescription. In a public […]

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Delaware, Nebraska, Texas win USDA hemp approval

Delaware, Nebraska and Texas are the latest states to win federal approval for their plans to regulate hemp in 2020. Four American Indian tribes also were greenlighted Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The states join Louisiana, Ohio and New Jersey with federal permission to take the lead in overseeing hemp in 2020. […]

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