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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.

Sources: USDA hemp rules drafted and awaiting White House approval

Published September 13, 2019 | By Laura Drotleff

Federal agriculture authorities have submitted hemp rules to the White House for final approval, meaning that public release of the first-ever national rules for growing the crop is nearing, Hemp Industry Daily has learned. The hemp industry is eagerly – and anxiously – awaiting federal regulations on hemp production from the U.S. Department of Agriculture […]

Idaho drug charges dropped, but truck driver transporting hemp pleads to lower misdemeanor

Published September 13, 2019

An Oregon truck driver charged with felony drug crimes for driving a truckload of hemp to Colorado has agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge. The Ada County Prosecutor’s office said Denis Palamarchuk of Portland, Oregon, has agreed to plead guilty to hauling an improperly permitted load, a misdemeanor. Prosecutors are dropping felony drug-trafficking […]

Four takeaways from the latest round of federal CBD warning letters

Published September 12, 2019 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

The young CBD industry is growing accustomed to federal health authorities warning companies not to make medical claims about the cannabinoid. But a round of warning letters this week from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – the consumer-protection agency that safeguards against unfair and deceptive advertising – served as a reminder that as CBD goes […]

Longtime hemp critic launches national attack, saying plant won’t help farmers

Published September 10, 2019

A South Dakota politician who opposes hemp cultivation is taking her argument national just as federal agriculture authorities are expected to release national production rules. Republican Gov. Kristi Noem wrote in a column published in The Wall Street Journal that many states have legalized hemp to as a savior for struggling farmers but that “hemp […]

California wheat biotech firm expands hemp investment with $10 million raise

Published September 9, 2019

An agriculture biotech company that markets high-fiber wheat said it is expanding its hemp subsidiary with a $10 million stock offering. Arcadia Biosciences of Davis, California, plans to use the money to research hemp genetics in Imperial County, California, according to a news release. The company’s hemp subsidiary, Arcadia Specialty Genomics, is scheduled to start planting […]

Why hemp businesses are (mostly) shaking off transportation setback

Published September 6, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

National shipments of hemp and its byproducts will march on, even if some businesses take extra care in the wake of a surprising court ruling delaying the return of roughly 7,000 pounds of hemp in police custody in Idaho, industry members and attorneys say. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to order Idaho to […]

Hemp acreage jumps 500% in 2019, a sign of legalization’s impact

Published September 5, 2019

American farmers are signing up to grow hemp in eye-popping numbers in this first growing season after the plant was federally legalized, with licensed acres up more than 554% from last year, according to advocacy group Vote Hemp. The Washington, DC-based lobbying advocacy group released its annual U.S. Hemp Crop Report on Thursday. The group reports […]

Aurora Cannabis divests itself of Green Organic Dutchman, hemp subsidiary

Published September 4, 2019

Canadian marijuana giant Aurora Cannabis has sold its remaining stake in a Toronto company that has a hemp subsidiary in Poland. Aurora sold its shares in The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD) for 86.5 million Canadian dollars ($64.9 million). Though the move means Aurora has divested itself of a TGOD subsidiary that makes CBD products, HemPoland, […]

Federal appeals court rules against Colorado hemp firm seeking return of its plants

Published September 4, 2019

A federal appeals court ruled against a Colorado hemp company trying to force Idaho authorities to release hemp seized in a January traffic stop. Big Sky Scientific of Aurora, Colorado, asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule an Idaho court that wouldn’t return roughly 7,000 pounds of hemp biomass seized by police in Ada County, […]

Oregon hemp company warns of layoffs after permit violation

Published September 3, 2019

A rural Oregon hemp-extraction company is warning of 90 layoffs because of a permit delay. Evergreen State Holdings sent notice about the potential layoffs to Oregon authorities last week, the Portland Business Journal reported. Located about two hours east of Portland, the company said it received a stop-work order from the Oregon Building Codes Division […]

Mary’s Brands bought by Connecticut cannabis firm; CEO steps down

Published August 29, 2019

Connecticut-based BR Brands, which owns and distributes a range of marijuana and hemp products, acquired Mary’s Brands, the Colorado maker of a cannabis skin patch. Terms of the acquisition were not made public. After the deal closed, Mary’s Brands CEO Lynn Honderd stepped down as CEO but remains an adviser. Mary’s Brands include: Mary’s Medicinals, […]

Is interstate hemp transportation actually legal? Federal court asked to sort it out

Published August 29, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

A Colorado hemp extraction company seeking the return of roughly 7,000 pounds of hemp biomass after it was seized in Idaho asked a federal court to override the state and affirm that hemp transportation is legal. But Idaho lawyers say the Colorado company – Big Sky Scientific of Aurora – “jumped the gun” when it shipped hemp […]