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.

New York reinvigorating hemp program with $10M in grants

Published September 26, 2017

New York state is opening its ramped-up hemp program with a call for new growers and an offer of up to $10 million in grant funding. The grants come in two categories: $5 million will fund industrial hemp research, including nearly $1 million in partnerships with Cornell University and Morrisville State College to support industrial hemp […]

CBD turmoil in Nebraska, Indiana underscores product’s uncertain legal status

Published September 21, 2017

By Kristen Nichols

A recent memo from Nebraska’s top law-enforcement official – in which he called cannabidiol products “illegal” – has underscored the challenges faced by CBD manufacturers and retailers nationwide.

The memo, and a CBD brouhaha in Indiana, have meant lost sales, confiscated product, legal uncertainty – and even the loss of a job.

Sheriffs step up patrols of hemp farms after N.C. robberies

Published September 21, 2017

Hemp fields are getting extra protection from law enforcement in one eastern North Carolina county where the new crop has been targeted by thieves, a sign that growers of the plant face more threats than the usual pests and poor weather. The extra sheriffs’ patrols in rural Edgecombe County, N.C., come after five men were accused […]

South Carolina extends deadline for prospective hemp growers

Published September 18, 2017

Prospective hemp farmers in South Carolina have an extra week to apply to grow the crop next year in the wake of Hurricane Irma. State regulators extended the deadline to Sept. 22 because of the flooding caused by Irma. Even before the hurricane, however, South Carolina farmers were showing light interest in growing hemp. The […]

Tons of CBD producers, but few connect with consumers: Q&A with analyst Bethany Gomez

Published September 18, 2017

By Kristen Nichols

The nascent CBD market is hot: The cannabis compound is popping up in a dizzying variety of products, from maple candies to skin creams to dog treats.

But a market researcher who produced some of the most exhaustive investigations yet into CBD’s market potential has some cold water to throw on CBD’s fire.

Nebraska attorney general calls CBD products illegal

Published September 7, 2017

Hemp-based CBD stores are now open in Nebraska, but their owners are spooked after the state attorney general told law enforcement and county attorneys that cannabidiol products are illegal. In a memo, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said CBD products aren’t legal in the state because they haven’t been approved by the U.S. Food and […]