This Week in CBD: June 14, 2019

This week the US Postal Service made things much easier for the CBD industry by clarifying its policy on mailing CBD products. In the past, CBD companies have run into resistance from local post offices about the legality of mailing their products.

In response, the USPS issued clarifying guidance earlier this year which the industry still felt was overly restrictive. Counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable sent a letter requesting a less-burdensome policy, and the USPS took note.

The new policy requires mailers to keep evidence that their products comply with federal law, but doesn’t require that evidence to be shown every time a package is mailed.

Kroger is the latest national retailer to jump on the CBD bandwagon, announcing this week that it will start selling topical CBD products like lotions, balms, oils, and creams. Other major retailers like CVS and Walgreens have already announced that they will sell CBD, cashing in on the high demand for the now federally legal extract.

The CBD products sold at Kroger’s will be THC-free and they will be available in 945 stores in 17 states. In a statement, Kristal Howard, head of corporate communications at Kroger, said that their “limited selection of hemp-derived CBD topical products is from suppliers that have been reviewed for quality and safety.”

If you live in the Lone Star State, you can now carry your CBD around with you legally. On Monday, Governor Greg Abbot signed a bill into law that formally legalizes hemp and hemp-derived products. The new law, which had broad bi-partisan support,  will result in a federally approved program for farmers to grow industrial hemp, allowing Texan farmers to cash in on the so-called “green rush.”

Hemp-derived CBD has been readily available in Texas for some time. Until this week, though, the state’s laws did not differentiate between hemp and marijuana.

California’s Senate Health Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would provide some clarity around the sale of CBD products in the state. The bill states that the inclusion of hemp-derived CBD in foods, beverages, or cosmetics does not contravene the state’s Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law.

Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), who authored the bill, made a case for the economic benefits of the CBD boom, which generates millions of dollars and employs many people in California: “Should the state choose not to clarify that hemp CBD products are legal, these jobs and this business would be lost.”

Two Canadian cannabis companies have announced plans to invest heavily in the US hemp industry over the next year.

Canopy Growth Corporation, which announced its investment in the US market back in February, has now decided to increase its cultivation efforts in six or seven states.

Leviathan Cannabis Group has also announced plans to build a hemp processing facility in Tennessee, which the company hopes will be able to manufacture up to 3000 kilos of CBD isolate per month.

With the current CBD shortage in Canada, Canadians are no doubt hoping that some of that CBD will make its way onto store shelves north of the border.

Last week we reported on the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit against the USDA for delaying the approval of their plans to grow hemp on their land.

This week, Federal Judge Karen Schrier denied the request of the tribe to force the USDA to follow the guidelines of the 2018 Farm Bill (giving the USDA only 60 days to approve or deny plans).

The USDA has stated that regulations would be in place sometime in the fall of 2019, and the agency will begin approving plans once those rules are in place.

You know that taboos around cannabis are eroding fast when the Church of England is willing to invest in the plant.

Following the recent legalization of medicinal cannabis in the UK, the denomination has decided that medicinal cannabis does not contravene their Ethical Investment Standards, which exclude profiting from industries like gambling, alcohol, and tobacco.

A spokesperson for the Church Commissioners, who manage church funds (used to pay bishops and ministry costs), told ABC News: “We will hold medicinal cannabis to the same standards as we hold other pharmaceuticals, and invest only if properly licensed and regulated for medicinal use.”