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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.

Montel Williams settles CBD lawsuit over use of name, likeness

Published April 4, 2019

Several Arizona-based companies agreed to stop using television talk-show host and medical marijuana activist Montel Williams’ name in their CBD materials.

Hemp importers see victory in legal setback against US Customs

Published April 4, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

A California court is giving hemp and CBD importers reason to smile, even though a federal judge dismissed most of a CBD company’s legal challenge to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In his decision, U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal repeatedly said the 2018 Farm Bill makes clear that hemp shipments shouldn’t be considered marijuana nor destroyed. […]

Texas loosens state-level hemp ban, but uncertainty remains

Published April 2, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

Hemp holdout Texas is taking a big step toward embracing the federally legal plant, with one agency announcing a rule change to remove the plant from the state’s definition of marijuana. But entrepreneurs hoping that Texas will allow a hemp industry before federal agencies take action say that the April 5 change isn’t enough to […]

Maine authorizes CBD foods after unpopular crackdown

Published March 28, 2019

Maine has changed course on CBD foods less than three months after health authorities ordered CBD foods off shelves. A new law gives CBD manufacturers express permission to add cannabidiol to foods in contravention of federal law, which bans the addition of CBD into the food supply. Gov. Janet Mills signed the CBD food law […]

Marijuana manufacturers flock to CBD e-commerce amid ongoing legal confusion

Published March 20, 2019 | By Joey Peña

The dominant sales channel for CBD – e-commerce – is becoming a major draw for marijuana manufacturers, who are using hemp-derived CBD to tap into new revenue and a wider consumer base. They’re doing this despite repeated warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it is illegal to include CBD in food, […]

CV Sciences earnings rise, but CEO says CBD confusion limiting growth

Published March 13, 2019

(This story has been updated to clarify that the CEO referred to state regulatory differences on CBD, not seizures of CBD.) CBD giant CV Sciences posted $10.2 million in profit last year, a big improvement from 2017, when the company lost roughly $4.9 million, according to the firm’s year-end fiscal report. The San Diego company, which […]

Wyoming jumps headfirst into hemp market, allowing sales ‘without restriction’

Published March 11, 2019

Wyoming plans to launch a hemp industry in a matter of weeks after Gov. Mark Gordon signed the first state-level hemp law since passage of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill.

Report: FDA chief to resign, leaving CBD review in question

Published March 5, 2019

Just as the CBD industry was hoping to start work next month on the cannabinoid’s place in food, drugs and cosmetics, the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief is resigning. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who told Congress last week that CBD can’t be added to consumer products, is leaving office in April, according […]

USDA plans webinar on hemp and the Farm Bill, invites comments

Published March 5, 2019

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will hold a webinar to get public input on the 2018 Farm Bill and hemp production. All interested parties are welcome to provide comments during the March 13 session, hosted by the USDA’s Specialty Crops Program. Participants must register in advance, and those who wish to speak must submit written comments to [email protected] by […]

Hemp testing confusion snarls Farm Bill interstate commerce guarantee

Published March 5, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

Hemp growers and manufacturers see a big hole in a new federal promise guaranteeing interstate hemp commerce – product testing. The 2018 Farm Bill promised protection for hemp transportation but left states with no uniform way to test THC content. So, cannabis plants that may go on a truck as legal hemp in one state can fail […]

Earnings roundup: GW Pharmaceuticals awaiting big CBD drug sales as it reports losses

Published February 28, 2019 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

GW Pharmaceuticals, the drugmaker behind the only federally approved CBD product, is still losing money, though it says it’s happy with early sales of its seizure control drug Epidiolex. Last summer, Epidiolex became the first cannabis-derived treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, prompting the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule CBD under […]

North Dakota court says CBD status not a ‘matter of great public concern’

Published February 26, 2019

North Dakota’s highest court has decided not to rule on the legality of hemp-derived CBD, upholding a drug conviction for a vape-shop owner who sold CBD. The court said that the retailer, Falesteni A. Abu Hamda, should have made his CBD argument earlier instead of accepting the state’s case against him. Hamda was charged with seven drug […]