Yesterday President Trump signed the Agriculture I

Yesterday President Trump signed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the Farm Bill). For hemp supporters, investors and industry leaders, it is a cause for celebration. This Bill not only legalized hemp as a cash crop, but also removed hemp and CBD from the Controlled Substances Act. So now that hemp has been legalized as a cash crop and the DEA no longer has jurisdiction, what next. The next step is the FDA. The FDA now must decide if each and every CBD product is to be evaluated separately, or if a blanket category can be created. Obviously, a blanket category would be preferred, but we do not know what will be decided nor when. Also, the United States now has a hodgepodge of laws, rules, and regulations at the state level that must also be brought into line with current Federal law. So we can celebrate, but the fight is not over. I find it difficult to convey just how important the Farm Bill is, but I can say it is a major issue for this industry and for every company operating in it.

The Federal Government as well as individual states must now come up with a plan to control this industry, and to deal with crops that do not comply with the .3 THC limitation. This may not be an issue for our group of companies (we really do not know), but it is an issue for the industry and particularly for those companies who grow both marijuana and hemp. This will not be an easy fix for the industry because jurisdictions must decide if entire crops will be destroyed or otherwise processed into products that do conform to this limitation.