Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) released its interim hemp rules. This is a major step in the full implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. These rules are not final but they will be effective as soon as they are published in the Federal Register. Stakeholders will have 60 days to submit comments on the interim
A first(!): Charlotte’s Web Holdings, Inc. (“CWB Holdings”), operated by the famed Stanley brothers, has secured the first-ever patent for a hemp cultivar in the United States. CWB Holdings is now the proud owner of a plant patent for “a new and distinct hemp cultivar designated as ‘CW2A.’” Patent documents describe CW2A as a hardy
Weedmaps, a major online pot shop directory and cannabis marketplace, announced last week that it will finally no longer allow black-market businesses to advertise on its site. Weedmaps’ announcement follows months of complaints from licensed cannabis businesses of harm caused by Weedmaps’ inclusion of ads for unlicensed companies – namely, that allowing such companies’ product
Today let’s talk about Curaleaf and the trifecta of very bad things that befell the company over a recent two-week span. Then, let’s see what we can learn from this brutal sequence. To recap, between July 22 and August 5, Curaleaf: 1) was hit with an FDA warning letter for “illegally selling” CBD products and
Utah is a unique state for a variety of reasons, but recently it gained additional notoriety because the “world leader in essential oils” (based on global revenue), Young Living Essential Oils, announced it acquired Colorado-based Nature’s Ultra. Nature’s Ultra owns more than 1,500 acres of hemp farms in Colorado and produces “natural, organic, vegan approved,
As promised, here’s an update on the first ever cannabis patent infringement case, which we’ve previously written about here and here. Since it’s been a little while – plaintiff United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) owns the “911 Patent,” which generally covers liquid cannabinol formulations of a purified CBD and/or THC greater than 95%. Last July, UCANN
We have been closely following California’s commercial hemp cultivation licensing law since it was proposed last year as Senate Bill 1409 (see here, here, and here). In March, I wrote about some of the roadblocks to implementing SB-1409’s commercial hemp cultivation programs, and the lengthy review process of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (“CDFA”) regulation which
On April 19, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would formally update its Policy Manual regarding how cannabis-related activity–even when it took place in states that have legalized the medical and recreational use of marijuana–would impact naturalization. The Policy Manual is self-defined by the USCIS as its centralized online repository for
Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) released a statement, in which the agency clarified that the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill rendered the importation of hemp seeds legal. As we previously explained, the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp, hemp seeds, and other derivatives, by removing them from the Controlled Substance Act. Accordingly,
Earlier this week, I wrote about how hemp businesses should not yet rely on the 2018 Farm Bill to protect them from their products being seized. This is because although Section 10114 of the 2018 Farm Bill prohibits states from interfering with the interstate transport of hemp and hemp products, that protection is limited to
