What The US Farm Bill Means For CBD

In a rare moment of non-partisan politics, the House, the Senate and the White House passed the US Farm Bill into effect. But what does it all mean? And how does this bill effect CBD?

Well the biggest win for CBD is that hemp is no longer regulated under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) making it an official agricultural commodity and further differentiating it from its distant cousin, marijuana. This greatly effects farmers of industrial hemp across the country who need all the help they can get. It also helps out retailers of CBD products across the country who have been hand-cuffed by antiquarian and uneducated laws.

Hemp has been redefined to include its “extracts, cannabinoids and derivatives,” meaning that hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) is officially on the market – it can now domestically grown in regions that were once prohibited, farmers can now receive crop insurance and participate in USDA programs for certification and competitive grants. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) can no longer interfere with the transport or commerce of hemp products.

Further, CBD sales are not limited to authorized payment processors, as banks and credit card companies have been enabled to service the industry and hemp futures can now be publicly traded as a commodity.

Now that hemp can be grown anywhere and publicly exchanged, we can expect CBD prices to lower for consumers and producers. As for the current standing with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we can expect them to step in soon and evaluate products.

This is a monumental step in the right direction for not only the hemp industry, but for the environment at large. Hemp can now be grown anywhere on US soil, which leads to greater research and production toward a future of replacing plastics, oils, and other everyday commodities.