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.

CBD sales spike in Indiana ahead of feared crackdown

Published December 6, 2017

Stores selling CBD in central Indiana are seeing a spike in sales after the state’s attorney general declared the products illegal with one limited exception. Kokomo store owner Joan Johnson said sales and interest in CBD increased after Attorney General Curtis Hill issued his opinion last month, the Kokomo Tribune reported. Hill said that CBD products are […]

Is CBD a drug? DEA hemp battle gets February court date

Published December 6, 2017 | By Kristen Nichols

A long-awaited legal challenge targeting federal drug authorities who call CBD a controlled substance will be heard in a federal appeals court in February. The Hemp Industries Association and hemp businesses are suing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration over a 2016 rule that cannabidiol is a controlled substance similar to marijuana. Arguments before the 9th Circuit […]

Washington state halts issuing of hemp licenses, citing budget shortfall

Published December 5, 2017

Washington has stopped issuing hemp licenses because the program is too expensive, the latest hurdle for a state that led the nation in marijuana adoption but has lagged on hemp. The Washington Department of Agriculture won’t issue hemp licenses for 2018 unless state lawmakers devote $313,000 to the program, according to Capital Press, which covers […]

Tribe loses bid to resume hemp growing in California after DEA seizure

Published December 4, 2017

A federal judge has rejected an effort by an American Indian tribe to resume growing hemp in Stockton, California. The Winnemucca Shoshoni tribe had sued the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and San Joaquin County in October over the removal of 26 acres of hemp – a crop the tribe valued at $77 million. The tribe also […]

Hemp, CBD investments accelerating in Europe

Published December 1, 2017

Cannabidiol investments are heating up across Europe, as entrepreneurs race to capitalize on hemp and CBD business opportunities. A Swiss cannabis business, CBD420, is marketing hemp strains that meet Europe’s limit of 0.2% THC, with products for sale in more than 1,000 tobacco shops in Switzerland and more than a dozen shops in France, according to […]

Wisconsin hemp bill signed into law, closing geographic gap

Published December 1, 2017 | By Kristen Nichols

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has quietly signed a bill making Wisconsin the 35th state to allow hemp production. The bill had passed unanimously in the state Legislature, sending the measure to Walker’s desk. Supporters say Wisconsin farmers should be able to grow hemp in 2018. The measure: Directs the University of Wisconsin to administer voluntary […]

Oklahoma proposal would allow hemp-based CBD production

Published November 30, 2017

Oklahoma lawmakers are poised to consider legal hemp production in 2018, a move that would open the state’s limited cannabidiol program to in-state producers. If the bipartisan proposal aimed at boosting a sagging farm economy succeeds, Oklahoma would join more than 30 other states that allow hemp production. “It’s a true cash crop and has a […]

Flower power: Canada’s new hemp rules boost CBD production, but limits remain

Published November 29, 2017 | By Kristen Nichols

Canada’s hemp market is about to skyrocket under new regulations that allow the nation’s farmers to use the plant’s flower for cannabidiol extraction. The proposal has farmers and cannabis companies scrambling to capitalize on the change. “This changes everything,” said Jenn Larry, president of CBD Strategy Group, a Montreal-based consulting firm for cannabis companies. “We’ve been growing hemp […]

Indiana retailers given 60 days to take CBD off shelves

Published November 28, 2017

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has told retailers they have 60 days to take CBD products off their shelves, but he also said state legislators could craft a new law allowing CBD sales. The governor’s mixed messages come as the Hoosier State tries to make sense of conflicting policies regarding nonintoxicating cannabidiol, according to WXIN-TV in Indianapolis. […]

Canopy Growth’s latest hemp move could add 2,000 acres

Published November 27, 2017 | By Kristen Nichols

Canopy Growth is moving farther into the Canadian hemp market with the acquisition of hemp land in Saskatchewan that could scale to over 2,000 acres. The medical marijuana producer, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as WEED, on Monday announced the acquisition of Green Hemp Industries. In addition to buying farm operations and associated assets, equipment, […]

Hemp State Highlight: North Dakota growing lots of hemp, but market potential is limited

Published November 14, 2017 | By Kristen Nichols

Few states are growing more hemp than North Dakota. With more than 3,000 acres in active hemp production and an unparalleled system for getting viable, certified seeds to interested growers, North Dakota could one day be the hemp leader it is for other agricultural commodities from corn to flaxseed.

But North Dakota has natural enemies that can limit hemp’s ability to thrive, as well as manmade enemies that limit the plant’s potential uses.

US hemp production doubled in ’17, report says

Published November 10, 2017 | By Kristen Nichols

The U.S. hemp crop doubled this year, according to new survey data from a prominent hemp-advocacy group. Vote Hemp counted a total of 23,346 acres growing hemp in 18 states. That’s more than twice as much as hemp land as 2016, when the group counted 9,649 acres growing in 15 states. State licenses to cultivate […]