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.

Charges dropped in Tennessee CBD raids, but store owners still angry

Published March 2, 2018

Drug charges against 19 business owners selling CBD products in the Nashville suburbs have been dismissed in what hemp advocates are calling a huge win for the state’s new cannabidiol industry.

Hemp State Highlight: Kentucky invests in hemp but wonders if peak has passed

Published March 1, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

Kentucky checks all the boxes for nourishing a hemp revival.

Climate suited to the plant? Check. Friendly regulations from a state willing to experiment and invest in hemp? Check.
Lots of cheap land and a processing infrastructure that includes in-state decortication and CBD extractors? Check and check.
So why do some agronomists fear that Kentucky has reached its hemp zenith?

Hemp company launches first cannabis line aimed at minorities

Published February 27, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

A North Carolina company is making the cannabis industry’s first play for consumers of color with a line of beauty products aimed at ethnic minorities. The Hemp Excellence line of body lotions, lip balms and CBD capsules went on sale this month at two beauty shops that cater to women of color in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. […]

Washington state’s fledgling hemp program gets lifeline from legislators

Published February 26, 2018

Budget writers in Washington state’s House and Senate have restored money to oversee hemp, potentially ending uncertainty after the governor proposed cutting funding for the state’s hemp production program. The hemp lifeline, first reported by Capital Press, comes after the Washington Department of Agriculture stopped issuing hemp licenses because of a budget shortfall and threatened to […]

Pennsylvania misses hemp target, but expansion still coming

Published February 23, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

Response to Pennsylvania’s plan to expand hemp production has been lower than state officials anticipated. The state set an ambitious goal for increasing hemp production this year by offering more licenses and increasing the acreage farmers can use to develop hemp from 5 acres to 100 acres. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said when he announced […]

Hemp State Highlight: Minnesota embraces revived hemp crop, but profits elusive

Published February 22, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

Ever wondered why the U.S. hemp harvest is so tiny despite the crop’s adaptability and market potential?

Minnesota is a great place to find some answers.

The North Star State has allowed modern hemp production since 2016 and has flexible rules on how the crop can be used.

Trump administration cautions against hemp expansion

Published February 21, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

The Trump administration doesn’t want to see hemp expanded nationwide in the next Farm Bill because of concerns about overproduction, an official said Wednesday. Greg Ibach, undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said current hemp regulations are “fairly narrow” and that the Trump administration doesn’t necessarily want to see that change when the Farm […]

Tennessee judge allows CBD sellers shuttered during raids to reopen

Published February 19, 2018

Nearly two dozen Tennessee stores padlocked for selling CBD are back open after a local judge ordered that keys and cash registers be returned to the 23 stores shuttered Feb. 12 in Nashville suburbs. Rutherford County Circuit Judge Royce Taylor ordered the stores to be allowed to reopen Friday, the same day that 16 defendants […]

Hemp State Highlight: Colorado’s market dominance threatened by falling prices, processing logjams

Published February 15, 2018 | By Hemp Industry Daily staff

No hemp discussion goes far in the United States without a mention of Colorado, where more than half the nation’s 2017 hemp production occurred.

Colorado has more acres in hemp, more farmers growing the crop, more processors extracting CBD from hemp and more market opportunities for selling the plant than any other state.

5 business points to consider in Thursday’s high-stakes CBD court case

Published February 14, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

The Hemp Industries Association and a handful of cannabis entrepreneurs are taking the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to court Thursday in a high-stakes case over the agency’s 2016 pronouncement that CBD is an illegal drug – the same as marijuana. The case won’t be decided for months, but the outcome is important for the entire […]

Tennessee raids shutter 23 stores for selling CBD products

Published February 13, 2018

Local authorities raided and padlocked 23 stores in the Nashville suburbs Monday because they sold CBD products. Indictments were levied against 21 people who were selling “a candy that resembled Gummie Bears with CBD,” Nashville TV station WSMV reported. In explaining the raid, Rutherford County Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh said that cannabidiol is “an illegal drug” and CBD is […]

Wisconsin tribe sues state for delaying CBD production

Published February 12, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols

A Wisconsin tribe planning to produce hemp-derived CBD is suing the state because enforcement authorities say a new hemp law doesn’t necessarily clear the St. Croix Chippewa to start making cannabidiol. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Madison, comes weeks after Wisconsin expanded its limited CBD law by allowing hemp production. The Chippewa […]