This Week in CBD: May 3, 2019

Robert Faulkner, an Ohio man who was charged with a fifth-degree felony after being caught with half a bottle of CBD oil, will not face a jury trial after all.

Richland County Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson ordered the case be transferred to Mansfield Municipal Court after deciding that the crime the defendant is accused of is a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

Under Ohio state law, marijuana possession is a minor misdemeanor, not a felony. But the state of Ohio’s argument was that CBD oil is not marijuana, but tetrahydrocannabinol, a Schedule 1 substance.

Faulkner’s charges were reduced to possession of marijuana, which is a minor misdemeanor.

According to Robinson’s judgement, “The prosecutor has failed to provide the court with any materials to support their argument. All the research that this court could locate on its own indicates that CBD oil should be considered marijuana rather than a Schedule I controlled substance.”

Florida lawmakers passed a bill today that will establish an agricultural hemp program in the state.

The program is expected to roll out in stages, with hemp continuing to be technically illegal in the state until July 1st.

Some Family Video stores are now selling CBD products, according to local news reports in Michigan.

The products are available in some of the video rental chain’s approximately 700 stores nationwide. The founder decided to start selling CBD after using it to get relief from tennis elbow.

This week, professional golfer Bubba Watson announced that he has entered into a multi-year partnership agreement with CBDmd.

Watson said of the agreement, “So for me it was about how I create longevity in the game of golf and spending time with my kids running around. CBD was easily a fit for me.”

Hawaii’s state health department is warning business owners that selling CBD may result in regulatory actions and penalties.

According to Health Department Director Bruce Anderson, businesses could be forced to close or pull products from their shelves in response to public concerns or reported adverse health effects.

In West Virginia, state officials are issuing more licenses to grow hemp this year, with a 243 percent increase compared to 2018.

And the land devoted to hemp cultivation will increase even more, with last year’s 155 acres expanding to 2,531 acres.

And in neighboring Virginia, farmers expect to grow more than 2,000 acres of hemp in 2019, thanks to new state regulations that followed the 2018 Farm Bill.

Struggling tobacco farmers in the state are increasingly looking at hemp as a potential replacement crop.