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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.

New York, New Jersey close to expanding hemp, CBD opportunities

Published June 21, 2019

New York and New Jersey lawmakers want to make it easier to grow hemp and sell CBD products. Legislators in both states sent bills to their respective governors making their states friendlier to hemp businesses. The measures both authorize CBD foods and dietary supplements. Rampant confusion in New York City, where health authorities pulled some […]

Scenes from the first Hemp Industry Daily Conference in New Orleans

Published June 21, 2019

More than 1,000 hemp professionals gathered in New Orleans between June 12 and 14 at the first Hemp Industry Daily Conference.

Congress urges FDA to get going on CBD in foods, dietary supplements

Published June 20, 2019

Congress is joining calls from the hemp industry for federal health regulators to tell CBD manufacturers how to put the product in food and dietary supplements. The U.S. House approved a budget amendment Thursday setting aside money for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set a “safe level for conventional foods and dietary […]

FDA extends deadline for public comments on CBD rules

Published June 20, 2019

U.S. health regulators are giving hemp entrepreneurs and the public more time to weigh in on looming CBD rules. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an announcement posted Thursday that comments will be accepted until July 16, two weeks longer than before. The FDA forbids the use of CBD in ingestible products such as food […]

Alabama drugstores cleared to sell CBD ingestibles

Published June 19, 2019

Pharmacies in Alabama now can join gas stations and other retailers cleared to flout federal restrictions on CBD products. A new law removing hemp from Alabama’s controlled-substances list allows pharmacies to carry CBD dietary supplements, something other retailers in Alabama already had been given permission to do. Pharmacies in Alabama said they needed additional assurances in […]

Minnesota hemp farmer faces felony charges for plants with too much THC

Published June 19, 2019

A Minnesota hemp farmer faces two felony charges after a traffic stop led to authorities seizing his hemp products and finding elevated THC levels. Luis Hummel, who owns 5th Sun Gardens in Lanesboro, Minnesota, haves felony drug-possession charges for growing the seized hemp, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. The plants tested at 3% THC, […]

Dosing, drug interactions top FDA’s questions about CBD as review continues

Published June 17, 2019

The regulators in charge of U.S. policy on CBD are giving the industry a first look at federal concerns as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) starts work looking at how cannabinoids can be used in food, drugs and dietary supplements. Dr. Amy Abernethy and Lowell Schiller, who lead the FDA’s new work group […]

Hemp-based wood startup ready to enter market despite US-China trade war tariff

Published June 14, 2019 | By Esteban Fernandez

Count Greg Wilson among those who believe hemp could bring a new business opportunity to an old industry.

After 15 years working in China on bamboo and oak products, Wilson had an idea when the 2014 Farm Bill opened opportunities to grow hemp in the United States.

California hemp food bill that would allow licensed marijuana retailers to enter CBD market advances

Published June 13, 2019 | By John Schroyer

California’s hemp and marijuana industries moved a few inches closer together Wednesday when state senators advanced a bill to both formally legalize hemp-derived CBD food and beverage products for sale and allow licensed MJ companies to enter the hemp CBD sector. The measure was passed by the Senate Health Committee on a unanimous vote and now […]

Texas gov signs hemp law banning smokable flower and requiring CBD sellers to register

Published June 12, 2019

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a hemp law that adds the nation’s second-largest state to the list of more than 42 others with commercial hemp farming. However, the law puts limits on the kinds of hemp that can be manufactured – smokable flower is not allowed – and requires retailers of hemp-derived CBD products to […]

Hemp industry descends on New Orleans for MJBizCon’s first all-hemp conference

Published June 11, 2019 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

Long considered the ho-hum cousin of marijuana, hemp comes into its own this week in New Orleans, where the producers of MJBizCon present three days of exclusive networking and business intelligence for the hemp industry. The inaugural Hemp Industry Daily Conference will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the same venue as […]

Louisiana legalizes hemp farming but bans smokable hemp and limits CBD sales

Published June 10, 2019

Louisiana has finally legalized hemp production and CBD sales – with caveats. The state is putting limits on the kinds of CBD products that can be sold, and farmers will have to wait until 2020 to grow legal hemp. CBD retailers in Louisiana will have to get licenses from the state Office of Alcohol and Tobacco […]