The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) marks a watershed in the regulation of cannabis in the United States. While the crop remains highly regulated, the law makes hemp production and distribution legal under federal law and establishes a framework of shared oversight by federal, state, and Indian tribe authorities. The 2018 Farm Bill permits the interstate transfer of hemp products for commercial or other purposes, and it requires compliance with a state, tribal, or U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) plan for hemp production. The law also makes hemp eligible for valuable financial protections available to other agricultural commodities, such as crop financing and insurance. Implementation will require rule making by the USDA, the drafting or revising of existing state and tribal laws, and the development and approval of hemp production plans. Furthermore, critical questions remain regarding the federal regulation of hemp when used in products regulated by FDA, such as the use of cannabidiol (CBD) in foods and dietary supplements.
Hemp is a fast growing and easily cultivated plant that has wide-ranging applications, including the production of fibers, paper, construction materials, and FDA-regulated products such as foods, nutritional supplements, cosmetics, and the recently approved drug, Epidiolex (cannibidiol) Oral Solution.1 Hemp, like marijuana, derives from the Cannabis sativa plant, but contains minimal levels of the psychoactive compound, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The 2018 Farm Bill defines hemp as Cannabis sativa L. and “any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers,” with no more than a 0.3 percent concentration of THC. Any cannabis plant that contains more than 0.3 percent THC falls outside the scope of the new law.
https://www.fdli.org/2019/02/the-legalization-of-hemp/ 018 Farm Bill removes hemp from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which previously had placed hemp along with other cannabis compounds in Schedule 1.2 Before the new law, the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) had permitted the growing and cultivation of industrial hemp, but for research purposes only by institutes of higher education, state departments of agriculture, or under a state agricultural pilot program for industrial hemp. In 2016, the USDA, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and FDA issued a joint “Statement of Principles,” which stated that “[i]ndustrial hemp plants and seeds may not be transported across State lines.”3 The 2018 Farm Bill clears and clarifies the path for the cultivation and interstate distribution of hemp for both research and commercial purposes. Read more https://www.fdli.org/2019/02/the-legalization-of-hemp/