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.

Wisconsin tribe settles hemp lawsuit, clearing path for indoor production

Published July 26, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

A Wisconsin tribe says its plans to grow hemp indoors in a former fish hatchery are back on after settling a lawsuit with the state. The settlement reached Wednesday states that the St. Croix Chippewa do not need permission from the state Department of Agriculture to start growing hemp on their lands in northwestern Wisconsin. […]

Canada Hemp Trade Alliance taps agribusiness specialist as national changes loom

Published July 25, 2018

Canada’s largest hemp association has hired an agribusiness specialist to help lead the group through “monumental” changes looming for one of the world’s top hemp producers. The Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, which represents about 500 hemp growers and others in the industry, has hired Ted Haney as executive director. Haney formerly served on the board […]

CBD manufacturer seeks wider pool of investors through Nasdaq

Published July 23, 2018

A San Diego CBD company is looking to become “institutionally relevant” by graduating to a more senior stock market. CV Sciences, which trades on the OTC market, announced Monday that it has submitted an application to list common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

Missouri farmers decry restrictive hemp acreage caps

Published July 20, 2018

Missouri farmers are pushing back at hemp limits even before the state’s new hemp law takes effect, complaining that the new hemp pilot program, signed into law just last month, is too restrictive.

Planned Kentucky hemp plant falls through, harpooning 100 potential jobs

Published July 19, 2018

A hemp processing plant promised for rural Kentucky isn’t coming after all, as the Chinese hemp company and California-based CBD company behind it say they have run out of money.

California CBD industry scrambles to adjust to food rule ‘roller coaster’

Published July 18, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols and John Schroyer

California’s booming CBD industry is in disarray after the state Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced earlier this month that CBD cannot be added to food, even if it comes from hemp.

“It’s a real punch in the stomach,” said Chris Boucher, who is growing 60 acres of hemp in Southern California, most of it destined for CBD extraction.

New Mexico bans out-of-state CBD products – but only in dispensaries

Published July 17, 2018

The confusing legal status of CBD products persists as New Mexico authorities warn medical marijuana dispensaries to stop carrying CBD from out of state. The New Mexico Health Department told the state’s 72 dispensaries last month that selling CBD produced outside New Mexico or from plants grown elsewhere “must cease,” according to the Santa Fe […]

Farm Bill language bans drug felons from hemp industry

Published July 16, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

The 2018 Farm Bill has been roundly praised by hemp activists because the Senate version would give hemp-derived CBD new legal protections, but a provision may also ban anyone “convicted of a felony related to a controlled substance under state or federal law.”

This image was originally posted to Flickr by Curtis and Eric at https://www.flickr.com/photos/85122211@N00/461513916. It was reviewed on 9 August 2010 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

Officials crack down on CBD in South Carolina beach community

Published July 12, 2018

Warning that “people are overdosing” on the product, authorities in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, announced plans to seize CBD and test it for traces of THC.

Hawaii hemp industry begins after months of seed delays

Published July 11, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

After months of delays caused by subpar seeds, Hawaii has started a commercial hemp industry. Hawaii agriculture officials issued three licenses for a total of 10 acres last month.

CBD import confusion sparks California lawsuit against US Customs

Published July 9, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

A California CBD producer is suing the federal government for seizing hemp shipments at airports.

The lawsuit seeks to end sporadic hemp seizures by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and to give hemp importers faster notifications when federal agents seize plant material for examination.

McConnell ‘optimistic’ hemp will find success in Farm Bill

Published July 6, 2018

Hemp legalization should have no trouble making it to President Donald Trump’s desk, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted during a tour of a Kentucky hemp processor. “I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to finish the job,” McConnell told reporters Thursday at Louisville-based Sunstrand, which manufactures hemp composites such as insulation and boards. Before touring […]