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.

Academia joins CBD research boom, offering new market opportunities

Published October 26, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

Lack of significant research on the effect of cannabinoids has long been a bane to the CBD and hemp industries. But in the wake of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s decision to reschedule some cannabis-derived products, researchers are looking for ways to open and capitalize on new markets and uses. Two Stanford University researchers, Jonathan […]

Canadian cannabis company adds Polish hemp grower to European portfolio

Published October 25, 2018

A Canadian cannabis company has bought a Polish hemp firm to expand CBD production in Europe. ICC International Cannabis Corp. announced Tuesday that it has acquired Polannabis Holdings, which includes a company that grows 850 acres of hemp and has licenses to extract CBD. ICC is paying 2.5 million Canadian dollars ($1.9 million) and 26.5 […]

When cannabis isn’t cannabis – and why hemp may suffer for it

Published October 24, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

How’s this for irony? The hemp industry’s rush to distance itself from marijuana has gone so far that hemp products can’t be sold in the world’s largest cannabis economy.

The development in California is a bitter lesson in being careful what you wish for.

RI allows medical marijuana to treat autism – after trying FDA-approved CBD

Published October 22, 2018

A Rhode Island decision to expand medical marijuana access has a worrying caveat for many in the CBD industry: Patients must first try an FDA-approved version of the drug. That classification by the Food and Drug Administration is currently limited to Epidiolex, an epilepsy treatment made by United Kingdom-based pharmaceutical manufacturer GW Pharmaceuticals. Rhode Island’s health department […]

Chart: Opportunity in CBD-only stores limited, but strong growth expected for other channels

Published October 18, 2018 | By Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier

As state laws around cannabidiol continue to change, stand-alone CBD stores may become a relic. According to estimates from Hemp Industry Daily in the 2018 Hemp & CBD Industry Factbook, CBD sales in the U.S. are expected to exceed $1 billion by 2020. More than half (55%) of retail respondents to a survey for the Factbook described their stores are […]

Canadian cannabis company starts US hemp firm, citing looser regulations

Published October 16, 2018

Noting hemp’s relaxed oversight compared to marijuana, a Canadian cannabis company has launched a new hemp company and signed a $500,000 CBD deal with a Kentucky hemp producer. Ascent Industries announced the creation of Thirty Eight Hemp Co. to produce CBD products for sale in the United States. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Ascent also inked a […]

Canada hemp changes could disrupt global CBD markets, but US producers hopeful

Published October 16, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

When Canada’s legal recreational marijuana market launches Wednesday, the nation will also allow its roughly 250 hemp farmers to sell flower for CBD extraction – a change that could have a global impact on CBD prices. “There are a lot of hemp producers who have been saving and drying their flowers for sale,” said Russ […]

Canopy Growth to acquire Colorado hemp researcher for more than CA$320 million

Published October 15, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

(This article has been updated to include the value of the shares when the deal was announced.) A Colorado research firm that is working on THC-free hemp cultivars is the first U.S. acquisition by Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth Corp. Canopy has agreed to acquire Evergreen-based Ebbu for $25 million Canadian dollars ($19.3 million) and […]

Walmart Canada ‘fact-finding’ on potential for CBD product sales

Published October 11, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

The world’s largest retailer, Walmart, is considering selling CBD products in Canada, a development that comes just days before recreational marijuana markets open in the country. But Walmart says it isn’t ready to start selling cannabidiol just yet. “As we would for any new industry, Walmart Canada has done some preliminary fact-finding on this issue,” […]

3 business takeaways from the Heineken hemp trademark case

Published October 11, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

Hemp is a booming new industry, but some of the obstacles facing entrepreneurs are decidedly old. That’s the case for a startup hemp beer seeking trademark protection for its new brand, which is running headfirst into a global alcohol giant: Heineken. The dispute centers on a Pennsylvania company’s plans to release a hemp-infused beer, Tiger […]

Polana Chocho?owska, Kiry, Poland, Photo by Dawid Zawi?a on Unsplash

Polish petroleum firm inks deal to produce biofuel from hemp

Published October 9, 2018

A government-owned petroleum firm in Poland has struck a deal to produce bioethanol from hemp. Grupa Lotos, one of the 10 largest fuel companies in Central Europe by sales, entered the agreement with the state-owned Institute of Natural Fibers and Medicinal Plants, Hemp Today reported. The Institute grows and researches natural fibers such as hemp […]

Ottawa hemp company to buy natural-products manufacturer for CA$20M to boost product research

Published October 8, 2018

A Canadian hemp company is buying a natural-products manufacturer for $20 million Canadian dollars ($15.4 million) in a bid to accelerate development of CBD consumer goods. Ottawa-based LiveWell Canada agreed to acquire Acenzia, which manufactures neutraceuticals, including powders and sports drinks, in a 36,000-square-foot facility in Tecumseh, Ontario. The acquisition gives LiveWell (TSXV: LVWL) a place […]