NutraCast: How amendments in the 2023 Farm Bill could shape the hemp industry

Medical Marijuana, Inc. CEO Blake Schroeder said including some language to regulate CBD in this next Farm Bill is much needed.

“The respectable players in the industry just would like some guidance. The 2018 Farm Bill made clear that anything with less than .03% THC is completely legal for use in foods and food supplements. Well, where do those products fall–are they foods? Are they food supplements? Is there some kind of a different category? These are clearly foods or dietary supplements and just some guidance in that respect would be a great win for the industry.” ​

Medical Marijuana, Inc. sits on a roundtable with the US Hemp Authority, a group Schroeder said was very influential in the 2018 Farm Bill and said he expects the same for the next iteration. 

One big change Schroeder hopes to see is the 0.3% THC limit go up to 1%. 

“We would love to see the limit go to 1%. First of all, we think we could provide way better products to people and second of all, we care about free access to cannabis to people. And the reason why we care about that is because we've seen clients of our company just have really, really tremendous results. And so we want to be able to provide the best high quality product possible for them. And we believe that if you can provide up to 1% THC, which we still think is non-psychoactive, it would be great for consumers, it'd be great for the industry and in the end, what we'd like to see is full cannabis, legalization, and and so, it'd be another step closer to that.”​

Although he doesn’t expect it to be in the next Farm Bill, Schroeder and the US Hemp Authority would also like banking to be addressed. 

“Cannabis companies trying to do banking is still very, very tough and so that needs to open up a little bit. And hopefully if we get a little bit more clarity out of the Farm Bill, maybe more banks will become willing to do business with full-blown cannabis companies,”​ said Schroeder. 

If you want to get involved, the House and Senate agriculture committees are accepting feedback. The Senate Ag Committee has an online form​ and House Ag also has a form on its website​. 

To hear more about what’s at stake, listen to the NutraCast.

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