Hemp is Legalized

December 20, 2018

On December 20, 2018 at 4:00 pm (not 4:20 pm), the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 aka the Farm Bill, was signed into law. The Farm Bill, which was passed by Congress on December 12, 2018, includes Section 10113 titled ‘Hemp Production’ which removes hemp completely from the Controlled Substances Act.

The Farm Bill, which will go into effect on January 1, 2019, defines hemp broadly as being all parts of the cannabis plant including ‘seeds, derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids,’ and any other part of the plant that contains a THC level of 0.3% or less.

Under the Farm Bill, hemp will be regulated solely by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the federal regulatory agency responsible for overseeing hemp cultivation.

Farmers can now cultivate hemp on U.S. soil commercially under a state or federal license. The Farm Bill also extends commercial hemp cultivation to Tribal lands and reservations, areas that had previously been omitted in Sec. 7606 of the 2014 Farm Bill.

With the passage of the new Farm Bill, many regulatory roadblocks will be removed which will allow the rapidly growing hemp industry in the U.S. to thrive. The Farm Bill will encourage access to federal research funding for hemp; it will remove restrictions on banking, and it will authorize federal crop insurance for hemp.

Hemp is Legalized! #Hemp #Legalized #FarmBill2018