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.

Hemp industry loses case against DEA, as federal appeals court says CBD a controlled substance

Published May 1, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

A federal appeals court sided with the Drug Enforcement Administration and upheld its decision that CBD is a Schedule 1 controlled substance – a major setback for the American hemp industry.

Mike Tyson adds West Virginia hemp to his marijuana company

Published May 1, 2018

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson is adding a hemp business to his marijuana company. Tyson Holistic, which broke ground in January on a marijuana cultivation and processing site in southern California, says it envisions growing hemp, lavender and soy in West Virginia, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Tyson’s company is teaming up with a […]

New Mexico hemp legalization finally takes effect after high court’s decision

Published April 30, 2018

New Mexico’s long-stalled measure to legalize hemp is finally law, thanks to a decision by the New Mexico Supreme Court. The court ruled last week that Republican Gov. Susana Martinez was wrong to veto a bill last year that authorized hemp production. The hemp bill was among a bundle of Democratic measures vetoed by the […]

Cannabis industry pleads its case against potential Texas CBD ban

Published April 26, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

A month after a Texas health agency proposed cracking down on CBD, the cannabis industry is actively trying to change the minds of health authorities about CBD to keep the products on shelves throughout the state. The confusion started in March, when the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) announced a draft plan to […]

Oklahoma removes hemp from drug definitions

Published April 24, 2018

Oklahoma has taken hemp out of its drug code, becoming the 37th state to allow hemp cultivation. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed the hemp law Monday, The Norman Transcript reported. Under the law, hemp will not be considered marijuana if it doesn’t contain more than 0.3% THC and is grown as part of Oklahoma’s hemp […]

Kansas governor signs hemp legalization law, but production months away

Published April 23, 2018

Gov. Jeff Colyer has signed Kansas into the modern hemp industry, but production won’t begin until 2019 while the state decides how to issue hemp licenses and how much to charge for them. Colver’s signature Friday makes Kansas at least the 36th state to allow hemp cultivation. Alaska’s governor enacted a hemp law two weeks […]

CBD epilepsy treatment wins unanimous approval from FDA advisers

Published April 19, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

A British pharmaceutical company is closer to getting its CBD medicine to the U.S. market with the government’s blessing, a first for the cannabis industry and potential game-changer for all marijuana and cannabidiol producers. A panel of government health advisers gave a unanimous recommendation Thursday to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve Epidiolex, […]

Maricann hemp subsidiary starts German crop for European production

Published April 18, 2018

A German hemp subsidiary of Canada-based Maricann is planting its first hempseeds on 405 acres in eastern Germany. Mariplant GmbH, based in Dresden, on Wednesday announced plans for the Saxony cultivation site. Mariplant is a 95%-owned subsidiary of Maricann, an Ontario company that grows and distributes medical marijuana. The hemp grow is accompanied by an 86,000-square-foot […]

5 things CBD companies will be watching for in FDA review of GW Pharma drug

Published April 18, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

It’s shaping up to be a watershed summer for the cannabis industry as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is poised to approve the first drug made from the cannabis plant. The decision on Epidiolex, an epilepsy treatment made of CBD extracted from cannabis flower, could upend decades of government insistence that the plant has […]

Hemp legalization bill expedited to full Senate

Published April 17, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

A long-awaited hemp bill is on the fast track in the U.S. Senate. The measure to remove hemp from the Controlled Substances Act got a boost Monday, according to The Hill. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the bill’s sponsor and the Senate Majority Leader, invoked a Senate procedure to allow the bill to skip over the committee […]

Oregon delays some hemp licenses to finalize rules for sales in marijuana system

Published April 16, 2018

Oregon has put some hemp licenses on hold while regulators finalize rules for including the crop in the state’s marijuana system. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission announced Friday that it will suspend issuing “hemp certificates” to growers and handlers who want to join the marijuana supply chain, pending the creation of new regulations. A new […]

Alaska governor signs hemp bill – with pen made of hemp

Published April 13, 2018

Alaska has become at least the 35th state to allow hemp cultivation, after Alaska Gov. Bill Walker signed the bill with a pen made of hemp. The measure, which passed unanimously in the state legislature, will “create a great opportunity for Alaska farmers,” Walker announced late Thursday. Alaska’s new hemp law doesn’t set license fees nor limit […]