HempTalk - Business Blogs and Press Releases

A California company that markets and distributes marijuana and hemp is making a play for convenience stores. Marijuana Company of America, a holding company with stakes in hemp and marijuana, is launching a line of CBD topicals, tinctures and edibles in sample sizes. The products will be sold in one-, two- and 30-day supplies. “The […]

Cannabis company makes play for convenience-store CBD market is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

A pioneering hempcrete project in the U.S. state of Washington will get final framing touches next month, with wall infill to begin in early May, Pamela Bosch, Founder at the Highland Hemp House project in Bellingham told HempToday.

[See the video]

Contractors working on the project include Matt Mead of U.S.-based hempcrete construction firm Hempitecture and local builder Ross Grier, Bellingham Bay Builders. The hemp hurd supply for the project was provided from Dun Agro, Holland while Wolf Jordan & Associates, Belgium, is supplying proprietary additive for the hempcrete mix.

A learning center for healthy living

In addition to hosting hands-on building workshops, Highland Hemp House also will serve as a learning center. “Our aim is to demonstrate hempcrete as the perfect building material for human comfort and sustainability,” Bosch said. The project will also showcase innovative solutions to maximize energy efficiency.

Workshops to run May-June this year will offer hands-on experience with hemp-lime to builders, architects, contractors, suppliers and self-builders. The HHH workshops are under the Deep Green Building Network, which hosts hemp building events in Europe and in the USA where it also partners with Tiny Hemp Houses, Ft. Collins, Colorado and The Fort, Duluth Minnesota.

Canadian hemp firms Manitoba Harvest and subsidiary Hemp Oil Canada say they’ve applied for certification under standards governing Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Manitoba Harvest is one of the world’s biggest hemp food makers. It purchased Hemp Oil Canada, a raw materials supplier, in 2015.

Certifying hemp foods are safe

GRAS certifies that substances in food are considered safe, exempting them from requirements under U.S. federal rules governing foods, cosmetics and drugs. Having the designation lifts barriers for hemp food innovators, those in the hemp ingredients trade, and mass-market food service buyers, the companies said in a release.

“This is a milestone for the entire hemp food industry,” said Bill Chiasson, CEO at Manitoba Harvest. The company is also accredited under standards from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), Chiasson noted.

“The use of hemp is expanding rapidly, and is now an in-demand ingredient for fast growing specialty food companies, but also large scale multinational packaged goods companies seeking to respond to consumer demand for more natural and high-nutrition products,” the companies noted.

Canadian companies are getting a head start on the country’s marijuana-infused beverages industry, even before legislation has been introduced to legalize THC-added products. Companies are turning to cannabidiol, which does not have psychoactive effects and is already legal, to get a leg up on competitors. Recreational cannabis flower and oil are expected to be legalized in Canada by the […]

Canadian companies gear up for cannabis-infused market before legalization is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

A major hemp industry group in Europe wants to see higher THC limits to meet the threshold in the United States and Canada. The European Industrial Hemp Association, based in Huerth, Germany, called on EU regulators to raise hemp’s THC limit from 0.2% to 0.3%. The U.S. and Canada allow hemp to contain no more […]

European hemp group seeks higher THC limits to compete with North America is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

A Colorado, USA couple say they’re developing one of the first nutraceutical and medical hemp research and treatment facilities in the United States.

Former horseman John Lyons and his wife Jody, a Registered Nurse, started turning their 70-acre ranch into the Colorado Hemp Institute (CHI) three years ago. The enterprise currently encompasses several indoor grows and corporate offices with a research lab under construction.

Ambitious expansion plans

The couple has plans to further develop both a testing lab and CBD oil extraction facility, a food grade manufacturing plant, a medical research facility, an office staffed with doctors, a day spa, and an organic food grow that will supply an on-site restaurant. Also in the plans are a hemp specialty retail store, and an assisted living facility and end-of-life center.

They say they’re now focused on developing strategic partnerships and alliances with private firms, researchers, doctors, and investors.

Well-known horseman

John Lyons for 40 years served as a horsemanship instructor, having published a magazine and developed “My Perfect Horse,” a television series for RFD-TV, an American thematic channel.

Pennsylvania ponders allowing smokable flower to combat a medical marijuana supply shortage, police in Juneau, Alaska, green light transporting cannabis on commercial airlines, and Idaho lawmakers shelve a CBD bill. Here’s a closer look at some notable developments in the marijuana industry over the past week. Slim pickings in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program hit […]

Week in Review: Smokable flower in PA, MJ air transport in Alaska & CBD setback in Idaho is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Nevada CBD manufacturer Leafceuticals is expanding into topicals and edibles with the $2.2 million acquisition of California’s Irie CBD products. The acquisition gives Leafceuticals a processing plant in Oakland, California, for expanding its CBD line. The agreement calls for Leafceuticals – a subsidiary of Las Vegas-based Freedom Leaf – to pay $400,000 cash and $1.8 […]

Nevada CBD company buys California firm for $2.2M to expand into topicals, edibles is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

North Carolina’s top hemp regulator is sick of interference from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said in a speech at the Southern Farm Show in Raleigh last week that the federal drug agency is not supposed to use any resources to intervene in the growing and processing of hemp, Southeast FarmPress […]

North Carolina agriculture chief blasts DEA over hemp confusion is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

South African cannabis activist and hemp entrepreneur Tony Budden, and two principle industry players from Australia – Paul Benhaim, Hemp Foods Australia, and Phil Warner, Ecofibre — are among international headliners at this year’s NoCo Hemp Expo, as the world’s largest industrial hemp gathering continues to expand its footprint around the globe. NoCo also announced the completion of its international panel with the addition of industry stakeholders from Asia, Europe and the USA.

The 5th Annual NoCo Hemp Expo will run April 6-7 in Loveland, Colorado, USA.

“We spent a lot of time in different parts of the world last year and met some incredible people doing truly innovative things for the industry,” said Morris Beegle of We Are for Better Alternatives (WAFBA) and Colorado Hemp Company (CoHempCo), the event’s organizer. “NoCo’s bringing together more great companies, products, speakers and energy from around the world than ever before.”

NoCo will for the second year host a Global Hemp Village, where international companies will present their products and services. Companies from Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Nepal, France, Germany and South Africa are among those already signed to be present on the Expo floor this year.

Budden is South African pioneer

Budden is a founding partner at Hemporium, South Africa’s premier hemp company. Hemporium has pioneered the use of industrial cannabis products since 1996, built Africa’s first hemp house and was instrumental in launching hemp-lime construction material in South Africa. He also is involved in hemp research trials in both South Africa and Malawi.

Two state legislatures scrapped legislation to expand CBD access and allow hemp production. Idaho and Indiana lawmakers said “no thanks” to bills that initially appeared headed toward approval, both at the apparent urging of Republican governors. Republicans also dominate the two state legislatures. In Idaho, where lawmakers passed a CBD bill in 2015 only to […]

Hemp, CBD bills quashed in Idaho, Indiana is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

A growing number of hemp companies are launching products aimed at the tattoo industry, from CBD patches marketed as pain relief to balms and creams designed to speed recovery, to expand their retail opportunities. “A tattoo, it’s basically just an open wound,” said Ali Munk, spokeswoman for Infinite CBD, a Denver company that makes hemp-derived […]

Hot ink: CBD makers hoping tattoo-care products will open new $1.6 billion market is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Drug charges against 19 business owners selling CBD products in the Nashville suburbs have been dismissed in what hemp advocates are calling a huge win for the state’s new cannabidiol industry. The business owners were accused of selling illegal drugs, and 23 shops were padlocked on Feb. 12. But according to Murfreesboro’s Daily News Journal, […]

Charges dropped in Tennessee CBD raids, but store owners still angry is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Massachusetts defers recreational marijuana delivery and onsite consumption, Arkansas approves five medical cannabis cultivators, and Washington state grants its floundering hemp program a reprieve. Here’s a closer look at some notable developments in the marijuana industry over the past week. An ‘elegant’ solution The decision by Massachusetts regulators to delay licensing for stand-alone marijuana delivery […]

Week in Review: Massachusetts recreational marijuana delay, Arkansas’ MMJ growers & hemp victory is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Kentucky checks all the boxes for nourishing a hemp revival.

Climate suited to the plant? Check. Friendly regulations from a state willing to experiment and invest in hemp? Check.
Lots of cheap land and a processing infrastructure that includes in-state decortication and CBD extractors? Check and check.
So why do some agronomists fear that Kentucky has reached its hemp zenith?

Hemp State Highlight: Kentucky invests in hemp but wonders if peak has passed is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Tennessee Republicans are warming to the idea of medicinal marijuana.

It wasn’t quite a 180-degree turn, but state House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) has bucked some in her caucus by announcing she supports legislation that would legalize and regulate medical marijuana in Tennessee.

Though she was never radically opposed to the idea, it took a familial experience for Harwell to lend her support to legislation pushed this year and in years past by Republicans Sen. Steve Dickerson and Rep. Jeremy Faison.

The medical marijuana effort in our state once seemed quixotic, but now it has the backing of the most powerful figure in the House. 

Click here to read the complete article

The leader of the U.S.’s largest military veterans organization pressed Congress to allow the use of medical marijuana during a hearing on Wednesday.

“The federal government continues to list cannabis as a Schedule I drug – the most addictive and dangerous – although its addiction rates are lower than alcohol, and the less-restrictive Schedule II classification applies to opioids, which kill 91 Americans every day,” American Legion National Commander Denise H. Rohan said in testimony for a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees.

Click here to read the complete article

Tom Angell ~ MarijuanaMoment.net ~ 

At their annual meeting, pro-pot governors say the AG isn't stopping them from advancing plans for medical and recreational legalization.

Over the past few days, most of the nation's governors descended on Washington for their annual meeting with administration officials and the president.

As the governors mingled about and chatted in between sessions, many of them were exchanging ideas and best practices on how to roll out a successful regulatory regime on marijuana.

But hanging over their talks was the specter of Attorney General Jeff Sessions who would like to clamp down on the nation's burgeoning, though disparate, marijuana industry.

Click here to read the complete article

A North Carolina company is making the cannabis industry’s first play for consumers of color with a line of beauty products aimed at ethnic minorities. The Hemp Excellence line of body lotions, lip balms and CBD capsules went on sale this month at two beauty shops that cater to women of color in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. […]

Hemp company launches first cannabis line aimed at minorities is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Budget writers in Washington state’s House and Senate have restored money to oversee hemp, potentially ending uncertainty after the governor proposed cutting funding for the state’s hemp production program. The hemp lifeline, first reported by Capital Press, comes after the Washington Department of Agriculture stopped issuing hemp licenses because of a budget shortfall and threatened to […]

Washington state’s fledgling hemp program gets lifeline from legislators is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs