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.

Colorado hemp farmers can tap into state grant to hire interns

Published January 9, 2019

With the industry’s new federally legal status, hemp farmers have increased access to workforce-development grants that have long been available to other industries. Colorado has opened up roughly $40,000 for farmers to hire interns for at least 130 hours of work between now and June. All farmers can apply, including those licensed to grow hemp. Colorado […]

‘Everybody’s wanting seed’: Hempseed market heats up after Farm Bill passage

Published January 8, 2019 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

CBD-rich hempseed is legal now, but it’s also rare, giving plant breeders a huge new market as barriers to national hempseed distribution are removed. The 2018 Farm Bill guarantees interstate commerce for all hemp products, removing requirements that viable hempseeds require approval from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. But the law leaves in place requirements […]

Charlotte’s Web lands Coca-Cola executive to help guide expansion goals

Published January 3, 2019

Charlotte’s Web Holdings is looking for a new CEO as it brings on a marketing expert from the world’s largest beverage maker to chart new growth plans. The CBD manufacturer announced Thursday that it had hired Eugenio Mendez, a former vice president of The Coca-Cola Co. who focused on global marketing for the beverage giant’s water, […]

‘You need standards’: Q&A with Marielle Weintraub of the US Hemp Authority

Published January 3, 2019 | By Kristen Nichols

The fast-growing CBD industry has a problem: It’s bedeviled by dangerous lookalike products and scary warnings from top medical journals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Even as CBD enters the mainstream, enabled by the 2018 Farm Bill, the industry lacks specific regulations to help consumers and authorities distinguish healthy products from dangerous phonies. […]

Hemp Notebook: Why your growing hemp business needs legal counsel before disputes arise

Published December 31, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

Hemp is making strides faster than activists dreamed even a couple of years ago.

But there’s a darker side of this go-go hemp industry.

Lawsuits and legal disputes are popping up just as quickly as product announcements and merger deals.

Nebraska’s war on CBD continues, but prosecutor says lawmakers can ‘fix it’

Published December 28, 2018

A CBD American Shaman store south of Omaha received a cease-and-desist letter from a local prosecutor ordering the removal of cannabidiol products by the end of next week. The order comes despite the fact that hemp-derived CBD is no longer a controlled substance under federal law. However, Nebraska state law still bans “all parts” of the […]

Kentucky submits hemp proposal to USDA for approval under 2018 Farm Bill

Published December 21, 2018

Kentucky is first in line to request federal approval of its hemp regulations. State Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles submitted Kentucky’s rules Friday, a day after President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill. “Hemp growers, processors and manufacturers deserve swift action so they can proceed with confidence,” Quarles told Bowling Green TV station WBKO. The Farm […]

FDA to give CBD industry ‘predictable’ guidelines but repeats cannabidiol not allowed in food

Published December 21, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

In response to hemp legalization being signed into law Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a reminder that CBD and THC are still not legal to add to food – but promised further review of its guidelines.

‘Potential is limitless’: Nevada CBD manufacturer inks nationwide deal with drugstores

Published December 19, 2018

A manufacturer making topical pain relievers with hemp-derived CBD plans to distribute its products nationwide through a network of independent drugstores, a deal announced in advance of expected Farm Bill approval by President Donald Trump in coming days. Leading Edge Pharma of Henderson, Nevada, announced Monday that its Cannavera line of CBD-infused creams, sprays and […]

Alabama authorizes CBD production and sales, citing Farm Bill

Published December 18, 2018

Alabama has changed course and authorized hemp-derived CBD production and sales, citing the pending Farm Bill that removes the plant from the Controlled Substances Act. The state’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, issued the legal interpretation last week as Congress was finishing debate on the 2018 Farm Bill, which now awaits the signature of President Donald […]

GenCanna’s 4th Kentucky hemp facility gets boost from tax incentives

Published December 14, 2018

Kentucky hemp grower and CBD manufacturer GenCanna Global is building a fourth factory in Kentucky, a $40 million facility the company received hefty public support for. GenCanna received “several million dollars” in state and local tax incentives to build the factory in Mayfield, in western Kentucky, President Steve Bevan told Hemp Industry Daily. The plant will […]

Canada cannabis giant ups stake in Italian CBD manufacturer

Published December 12, 2018

A subsidiary of Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth is increasing its investment in an Italian hemp company. Canopy Rivers announced that it will spend 17.4 million Canadian dollars ($13 million) to increase its ownership in CanapaR Corp., the parent company of CanapaR SrL, a hemp-derived CBD manufacturer based in Sicily. The deal gives Canopy Rivers 49.9% […]