Weed beer is near, and it’s gonna get weird

By Max Cherney
Source: marketwatch.com

Maze of laws involving pot and alcohol isn’t stopping big deals between cannabis and booze companies


MarketWatch photo illustration/iStockphoto

Beer makers are looking to put weed into brews, but it isn’t that easy.

Would you drink marijuana-infused beer? Beer companies think so, but they are going to have to navigate a hazy path of rules and regulations to find out.

Two Roots Brewing Co. has spent millions of dollars clearing that path, and shows just how convoluted it can be. To get its weed beer to the masses, the San Diego, Calif., startup had to engineer a new way for marijuana to enter a drinker’s blood stream, remove the alcohol from the beer altogether, and develop a multi-state production system that only infuses the pot into the drink when it has reached the state where it is sold. All of those efforts have led to sales in just California and Nevada, though at least residents of those two states now have nonalcoholic beer that can get them high.

As giants of the alcohol industry buy into the concept of potent pot potables, they will have to confront the same issues: A confusing maze of laws dealing with pot and beer, even in states such as Colorado that have allowed adult recreational marijuana usage for several years, as well as simple human biology.

Giants in the beverage industry such as Molson Coors Brewing Co. TAP, -0.03%  and Constellation Brands Inc. STZ, +1.11%  are making bold bets on weed beer as beer sales continue to drop across the U.S., and more are expected to jump on the bandwagon, even though the concept of weed beer has not yet proved to be popular. Beverage sales of $1.8 million accounted for just 0.7% of marijuana sold in June in California — the largest single market in North America — while the vast majority of pot sales, $175.7 million, was for products meant to smoke or vape, according to data from BDS Analytics, a business intelligence firm focused on cannabis.

“Right now, drinkables make up a very small portion of the cannabis market,” said Troy Dayton, chief executive of Arcview, which conducts research into cannabis markets and connects investors to early-stage companies. “Many big companies are looking at the intersection between functional beverages [infused with cannabis] and beer. Those are coming together to create a big hotspot.”

That hotspot is fraught with regulatory issues, however. Alcohol rules can vary from state to state and have caused headaches for the alcohol industry even before introducing marijuana into the mix. Cannabis consumption is legal in only a few U.S. states, though a large potential market will open when legalization takes hold throughout Canada in October.

Beyond just the complex and changing legal landscape, there are issues with consumer knowledge of the differences between drinking a beer and a drink laced with cannabis extracts. Canopy Growth Corp. CGC, +1.65%  Chief Executive Bruce Linton, who sold a $4 billion stake in the Canadian cannabis business to Corona beer-maker Constellation last week, told MarketWatch that beverage sales will remain a fraction of the overall market because the doses are too strong and the effects are wildly variable.

“The common problem with the current format of beverages is that you drink too much of it and you’re too crushed,” Linton said. “Rather than being a seven- to 12-minute onset period, it’s ‘who knows,’ and if you eat a cheeseburger too, it may be less time — it can be 20 to 50 minutes. So there’s a very weak feedback loop.”

 

Here's how to invest in cannabis through ETFs

Two Roots, which is owned by Lighthouse Strategies LLC, says it has tackled that issue. Though the company wouldn’t go into much detail about the precise nature of its weed-infusion process, CEO Michael Hayford said the company’s beer products have a five- to 10-minute onset time and the effects dissipate after about 90 minutes.

“If you can bypass the liver then you can get rapid onset, but also rapid dissipation because it’s not going through your metabolism. And that’s what we’ve done,” he said.

One method Two Roots may be employing to achieve its effects is through nano-emulsion, said NanoGen Labs founder Harold Han, who has a PhD in emulsion chemistry and has been working in the field for more than a decade. Han said that by making the cannabis oil containing the main psychoactive component — Tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly referred to as THC — small enough, it would be possible to achieve the effects Hayford talked about.

“The technology exists to do so now, but you would have to customize it for large production,” he said.

Other breweries are experimenting with cannabis-derived products in different ways. Portland, Ore.-based Coalition Brewing makes a West Coast-style India Pale Ale infused with cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive substance found in hemp and cannabis plants. Co-founder Elan Walsky said the company makes the product because it wants to demonstrate how similar IPAs and cannabis products can be in flavor, and also to point out the similarities between the craft beer industry in its early days and where craft cannabis products are now.

“The industries, here in Oregon at least, share a lot of the same hallmarks,” Walsky said in a telephone interview. “[Cannabis] is experiencing some really meteoric growth and a lot of the values are closely aligned as well. The purpose of the beer is to showcase these natural synergies, not to create a chimera of intoxicants.”

Coalition’s CBD brew contains alcohol, but THC-infused alcoholic beers are mostly outlawed even in states where marijuana is legal for recreational use, hence Two Roots’ nonalcoholic approach. Coalition’s CBD brew is under the purview of the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which permits and inspects alcohol production facilities and has shut down a San Francisco-based brewer for attempting a CBD beer similar to Coalition’s. But the TTB gave Coalition its blessing, suggesting there is room for others to follow in its footsteps.

Craft brewers such as Coalition have been desirable acquisition targets for beer titans like Anheuser-Busch InBev SA BUD, -0.04%  as they have sought to essentially buy back market share that they had lost to micro-brewing operations. And they may be still — Constellation isn’t the only alcohol conglomerate moving into the cannabis market. Molson Coors said it is forming a joint venture with Canada-based The Hydropothecary Corp. HEXO, +5.09%  to make nonalcoholic weed beverages for the Canadian market. Heineken NV HEIA, +0.42% bought San Francisco Bay Area-based Lagunitas brewery, which recently launched a weed-infused beverage that is not a beer. And last week a report surfaced that Smirnoff and Johnny Walker maker Diageo PLC DEO, +0.82%  is in talks with at least three Canadian weed companies for an investment or collaboration in one, setting pot stocks like Tilray Inc.TLRY, +20.64%  and Cronos Group Inc. CRON, +14.98%  aflame.

Heineken, through its subsidiary, declined to make executives available for an interview in time for publication. Molson also declined to comment, citing the fact its joint venture was so new it didn’t yet have a CEO to speak for it. Diageo did not return a request for comment.

“The motivation is high for the alcohol companies because cannabis affects their business and they’re used to operating in highly regulated, controversial industries,” Arcview’s Dayton said. “It’s a big bet and I suspect that alcohol companies and everyone who is putting their money in, it’s not going to be all beverages, that would be too risky. Food companies are in many ways better-positioned.”

Two Roots’ Hayford said he doesn’t spend much time worrying about the billion-dollar bets that companies like Constellation are making in cannabis beverages. Even if the federal government were to legalize cannabis, which he suspects is several years out, states such as Washington and California have set up regulatory procedures that would make life for new entrants difficult, giving Hayford and Two Roots a lengthy head start.

Lighthouse Strategies currently boasts 11 subsidiaries involved in various aspects of the cannabis industry such as edibles and beverages, including Two Roots, and has raised $19 million. Hayford said the company, which is seeking fresh funding of $25 million to $50 million at a $250 million pre-money valuation, doesn’t break out revenue for specific units, but Lighthouse overall expects revenue of $28.6 million in 2018, and is projecting 2019 sales of $126.3 million. The company was profitable after its second year of operations, according to investor materials viewed by MarketWatch, and compares itself to Providence Brands, which makes specialty sporting goods, or Canada-based Canopy.

“We’ve been scoffed at by I don’t know how many companies, private equity or otherwise, that have said our outlook is off,” Hayford said. “But in two and a half years, the world has now done a 180. So what keeps me up at night is that we’ll be able to move quickly enough to maximize the position we’ve put ourselves in.”

In Kentucky, Farmers Find Hemp May Be More Profitable Than Tobacco

By David Carpenter
Source: forbes.com

Joe Hickey in Atalo's Kentucky hemp field.PHOTO CREDIT: MEDIA COLLABORATORY

Perhaps the most misunderstood agricultural product on the market today, industrial hemp is seeing a surge of growth among U.S. agriculture producers now planting the crop in record numbers, often replacing staples like soy, corn and tobacco. With growing interest from farmers looking for more profitable harvests — and support from power brokers like U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pushing for legalization — the legislative scales may be tipping in favor of freeing hemp from federal prohibition as early as this year.

A key factor to understanding the haziness surrounding cannabis legalization is realizing the difference between hemp and marijuana. Hemp is not marijuana. Both are types of cannabis, but one is used as a fuel, fiber, and food source (hemp), the other gets you high (marijuana). While laws regarding medical and recreational marijuana in the U.S. continue to play out state by state — with medical marijuana now legal for use in 30 states — hemp advocacy is making greater headway gaining support at the federal level. Hemp’s nonexistent psychoactive qualities have a lot to do with its widespread support. Because hemp is technically described by the feds as containing no more than 0.3 percent THC (the high-inducing facet of cannabis), hemp is considered less of a threat than marijuana and not seen as a substance for abuse.

A huge advancement occurred for hemp with the signing of the 2014 Omnibus Farm Bill, which included an amendment permitting farmers to grow industrial hemp as a pilot program in conjunction with state ag departments and universities. Since then, hemp has been planted in record numbers across America. It is now legal to produce in 39 American states. Vote Hemp — the nation's foremost hemp advocacy group working to change state and federal laws to allow commercial hemp farming — detailed in a 2017 U.S. Hemp Crop Report that 23,343 acres of hemp were cultivated last year, more than double the acreage of the previous year.

Now the 2018 Farm Bill, which includes the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 aided by Senator McConnell, may very well see hemp legal under federal law if it passes this year, as the current Farm Bill expires on September 30.

While hemp producers in states like Colorado, North Dakota and Oregon have all ramped up hemp production since 2014, it’s in Kentucky — once called the “Hemp Capital of the World” — where farmers are seeing hemp outperform other long-standing crops like tobacco.

Atalo's Kentucky hemp crop.PHOTO CREDIT: MEDIA COLLABORATORY

In London, Kentucky, 39-year-old Brent Cornett, a 7th-generation farmer whose family farm includes beef, corn, soy, and produce — and until recently, primarily tobacco — has over the past few years turned to cultivating hemp in greater amounts. The farmer said a few planting seasons back he became aware of a grower’s group led by Atalo Holdings in Winchester, Kentucky, that was helping farmers to add hemp to their rotations. He joined Atalo’s group in 2016 testing out 20 acres, with good results, and has increased his acreage every year since.

Cornett said the resources available from Atalo and the knowledge base of the growers’ group helped him increase production to 35 acres in 2017 and 85 acres in 2018. “There’s been plenty of challenges with a new crop, but as of today, a mediocre hemp crop is yielding a better return than an excellent tobacco crop,” he said.

Steadfast advocates for hemp legalization since the 1990s, the founders of Atalo have been instrumental in accelerating the Bluegrass State’s knowledge around hemp and are dedicated to the research, development and commercialization of the crop. “What we bring to the table is proprietary seed, dramatically improved agronomics, including planting, harvesting, drying, quality-controlled processing, and access to markets,” said Joseph Hickey, Director of Corporate Relations at Atalo.

Starting with five farmers and 35 acres in 2014, the grower’s group is now 60 farmers strong across Kentucky, and is working with farmers in Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as advising growers in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

"As the U.S. hemp market continues to grow at a double-digit pace annually, American consumers continue to demonstrate their strong interest in hemp products," said Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra, who estimates the total retail value of hemp products sold in the U.S. in 2017 to be at least $820 million.

Cornett sees a bright future for hemp on the horizon. “When hemp is legalized, we’ll be able to get insurance and also use the crop for collateral. Then we can really take off,” he said. “It’s an excellent replacement for tobacco, and we’re happy to be growing a crop that helps people instead of one that was found to hurt people.”

David Carpenter is a contributing writer for Forbes covering cannabis from an entrepreneur's perspective. You can visit his company Panther Papers and follow him on Twitter.

Rauner Signs Bill Legalizing Industrial Hemp in Illinois

Source: vistagreencg.com

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Sunday signed into law a bill that allows farmers to grow cannabis for non-drug uses, making Illinois the latest state to legalize a crop that experts say is growing in demand.

The new law permits the cultivation of industrial hemp, a variety of the cannabis plant that is used to make paper, fabrics, biodegradable plastics, construction materials and a variety of foods, including granola. The bill was introduced in January by state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Chicago Heights.

Despite the plant’s widespread use, federal law prohibits the growing of hemp, which the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies as a Schedule 1 drug, or one with a high potential for abuse.

To get around the federal ban, at least 16 other states have legalized industrial hemp production for commercial purposes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“Legalizing the farming of industrial hemp just makes good sense,” Rauner said in a statement after signing the bill, noting that a number of other states are considering allowing cultivation of the crop for commercial, research or pilot programs. “Our farmers should have this option as well.”

The law establishes a licensure program through the state’s Department of Agriculture, which will include testing for levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive chemical that gives marijuana users a “high.” Hemp advocates have long pushed back against the FDA’s classification of the plant because it contains very small amounts of THC.

Although federal law restricts the cultivation of hemp for commercial use, the U.S. imports an estimated $300 million in hemp products and materials each year, according to the National Hemp Association. The market for hemp is projected to grow over the next few years, breaking $2 billion by 2020, with high demand for hemp from farmers, brewers, processors and even clothing designers.

Hemp is also popular among environmental advocates for its potential use in remediating contaminated soils and its ability to compete with weeds that are resistant to highly toxic herbicides.

“We are excited that Gov. Rauner is signing into law a bill that will bring a new sustainable agriculture industry and millions of dollars in investment and economic growth to Illinois,” said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, in a statement. “Industrial hemp will bring new opportunities to Illinois farmers.”

The new law will help farmers diversify their farms by growing a versatile crop, said Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert Jr. in a statement.

It’s Not Easy Being Green — Breweries Explore How to Market Marijuana-Themed Beer

By Bryan Roth
Source: goodbeerhunting.com

According to the company’s own self-described “high history,” cannabis is at the core of Lagunitas’ business ethos. This should come as no surprise. The California- and Chicago-based brewery has long packed its story alongside marijuana, rolled into shared points of info that pass from one to the next. It’s a cloud hanging over the brewery since the infamous “St. Patrick’s Day Massacre,” a 2005 drug bust at the Petaluma headquarters that gave birth to Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale, all the way up to the recent release of Hi-Fi Hops, a THC-infused, hoppy sparking water. The cannabis connection is a natural part of who Lagunitas is, which just happens to be a brewery, not a dispensary.

 

"It takes a lot of good weed to make great beer," is something company founder Tony Magee supposedly said 25 years ago, according to company promotions. In today’s industry, however, it raises a question: does it also take a lot of good weed to market great beer?

The branding and communication around Lagunitas has long had a direct tie to cannabis, a brewery that’s even gone so far as sending roach clips in press samples. (Oddly enough, I was once asked to untag Lagunitas from an Instagram post showing a clip in a staged photo with a fake joint.) Aesthetics around themes of “420” and the 1960s are common, but now that pot has a growing cultural cache, Lagunitas no longer has a monopoly on all things weed and beer.

 

“I think we can all agree that Lagunitas has always had a cannabis culture and persona that kind of pushes the boundaries in a way that makes sense for their brand,” says Jessica Lukas, vice president of consumer insights for BDS Analytics, a market research firm that specializes on the cannabis industry. “But for everyone else, the trick is now doing it in a way that doesn’t feel fake and taking advantage of a trend. It has to be relevant to current consumers while also fitting a brand personality, which is where the challenge is.”

 

Beer companies getting involved in some form of THC or CBD-laced drink is no longer a surprise. Along with Lagunitas, Molson Coors, Constellation Brands, and Blue Moon creator Keith Villa are all venturing into the space in some form. So is Two Roots Brewing in San Diego. Until now, beer has acted with a sly wink (Oskar Blues’ Pinner Throwback IPA slogan of “Can I be blunt?”) or a punch on the nose (Mt. Shasta Brewing, “Home of Weed Ales & Lagers”). But all of a sudden, with legalization and interest in pot spiking, there’s a capitalistic capitalization to be made. By 2021, BDS Analytics estimates there will be $24.2 billion of cannabis retail sales in North America.

 

“There’s a lot of conversation about cannabis, hemp, and CBD, and if a brewer can play with the idea of these products and create something that tastes good and consumers are interested in, it’s on trend and part of a big conversation,” she says. “Whether or not these products will last for the long term will be a hot topic of conversation.”

 

Noting the variety of beers that have entered the market in the past year using cannabis, hemp, or visuals and marketing around it all, Lukas said it all makes sense because breweries are “taking advantage of something that’s hot right now.”

FINDING AUTHENTICITY

 

Based on the early success of The Hemperor “Hemp Pale Ale,” New Belgium Brewing hopes a new wave of cannabis-tangential brands lasts longer than a puff of smoke. Between its debut in April and the end of July, the beer sold roughly the same amount in IRI-tracked grocery, convenience, and other stores as single brands like Oskar Blues IPA and National Bohemian, and entire brewery portfolios from Melvin Brewing Co. and Avery Brewing Co.

 

[Disclosure: New Belgium is an underwriter of Good Beer Hunting’s “Into the Wild” series.]

 

The beer, adorned with colors of green and a character covered in leaves, was created to recreate hemp terpene flavors. For most people, The Hemperor would be easily recognized for its intense aromatics that mimic hemp’s cannabis cousin, connecting directly to the namesake monarch on the label.

 

“He’s pretty hemp-forward,” says Bryan Simpson, media relations directly at New Belgium. “There’s a big, flowing beard that looks like dope leaves. By nature of the product, we were looking to push a few buttons and we certainly want to call it what it is.”

 

And therein is the fine line New Belgium and others have to walk. Make it clear to customers how they should interpret a cannabis-inspired beer, but not go so far over the edge that it becomes kitschy, sophomoric, or even illegal.

 

For New Belgium’s digital promotions for Hemperor, the company can’t provide any paid advertising on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram, because it would violate terms of service. Simpson says his teams can’t budget for promoted posts “in a marijuana space,” leaving any updates, perhaps fittingly so, for organic growth.

 

There’s a two-prong approach to discussing the brand. A more serious side focuses on sustainability and legalization efforts for hemp. The more public version is light-hearted, highlighting things like the beer getting banned in Kansas, where the state Alcoholic Beverage Control prohibits hemp seed as an ingredient in alcohol, which garnered extra media hits. Twenty-second YouTube shorts of The Hemperor doling out advice have proven popular, performing as much as eight times better than average posts and playing up the tagline of “behold the dankness.”

 

Unlike New Belgium’s recent foray into these kinds of communications, SweetWater Brewing Co. has long leaned into marijuana-tinged marketing. It’s 420 Extra Pale Ale—a purposeful indicator toward pot—represents almost 40% of the brewery’s IRI sales. “We’ve never been shy about 420 and the ‘420 lifestyle’ being a part of our DNA, says Brian Miesieski, vice president of marketing for the company.

 

SweetWater has taken it one more step in 2018, however, to make that connection specific and explicit. G13 IPA, the inaugural beer in what the brewery hopes will be an ongoing series called “420 Strain,” is named after an actual strain of marijuana once regarded as the most sought-after on the planet. Made with terpenes, hemp flavors, and hops, marketing materials plainly state the goal is to smell “like the infamous cannabis strain.”

 

“For 21 years we’ve spread the 420 gospel to craft beer fans with our flagship Extra Pale Ale leading the way,” the brewery states in press materials. “Now the climate is right for us to further plant that stake in the ground. Introducing 420 Strain, a brand new line of beers that pushes the envelope of brewing and speaks to the 420-friendly lifestyle we’ve always lived and loved.”

 

Photos for the beer and its apparel are shrouded in smoke. Its slogan is "a strange new strain indeed." The only thing about the beer that doesn’t outright scream “weed” is the use of a ghostly version of SweetWater’s iconic fish, nicknamed internally as “Bones the Trout.” Although even that has a certain Grateful Dead kind of feel.

 

“As [cannabis] becomes more prominent in pop culture and accepted and less taboo, it makes sense for a beverage alcohol company to tap into that lifestyle,” Miesieski says.

 

The trick to it all, adds Tucker Berta Sarkisian, director of communications, is tracking how it all moves the brewery’s “authenticity meter.” Because aspects of marijuana have long been associated with SweetWater, packing in additional references and ties to a brand should feel like a natural extension for fans of the brewery.

 

“First and foremost, it’s an incredible beer with a cool concept,” she says. “But the campaign and concept are a bonus because they’re honest to who we are. That’s how we stand out.”

GOING MAINSTREAM

The proposition of authenticity may be true for SweetWater, but it’s bound to seem less unique in the coming years. Among the changes in how breweries might make or market a beer in its relation to marijuana, the most important may be America’s acceptance of the drug itself. In recent polling by Gallup, marijuana was cited by survey respondents as the least harmful substance among a list that included cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars, a pipe, and e-cigarettes. Another poll showed that 65% of respondents said smoking marijuana was morally acceptable, nearly identical to 64% who now support the legalization of cannabis, a percentage that has more than doubled in the last 20 years.

 

As perception has changed, it can be hard to believe the U.S. is just 80 years removed from the propagandist sensationalism of Reefer Madness, a movie released in 1936 purposely to terrify citizens at the use of marijuana. In today’s marketplace, 72% of cannabis users also consume alcohol, according to BDS Analytics, and 82% of that figure are also beer drinkers. Not only is society at-large more accepting of conversations and use of pot, but the crossover potential is only getting stronger.

 

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity out there utilizing hemp and cannabis for a lot of these companies,” says Jessica Lukas, vice president of consumer insights for BDS. “I continue to reiterate this should not be an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ conversation. It’s a strategic conversation for a business, consumers, and potential customers.”

 

Craft beer consumers are cannabis consumers and vice versa, Lukas says, noting that craft beer drinkers also over-index in that connection. What this all leads to in the long run depends on what happens with the legalization of pot state-by-state and, most important, federally. Lukas notes that an increase in weed-themed beers is just a start. The real end game isn’t just to have a hemp beer or something that mimics marijuana.

 

“This is the start of a bigger conversation down the road of including THC, CBD, or terpenes,” Lukas says. “A lot of companies don’t want to touch this until federal legalization happens, so others might as well take advantage of what they can with safer ingredients that play to the conversation in the marketplace.”

 

Until then, craft beer seems determined to pass to the left as a way to share a growing market—even if it’s not quite the real thing.

 

The One Cannabis Investment You Can't Afford to Miss

By Bryan DeHaven
Source: ctpost.com

It’s time for hemp’s breakaway moment.

For almost five decades, hemp in America has been tied to its controversial cousin marijuana. Despite being defined by the federal government as being low in psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -- less than 0.3 percent -- industrial hemp is lumped in with all other forms of Cannabis sativa L., which have been classified since 1970 as a Schedule I controlled substance, along with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.

Legislative attempts to remove hemp -- or “deschedule” it -- from the Controlled Substances Act have picked up steam in the last five years, but they still haven't made it out of committee status. As a result, the U.S. hemp market, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, consists of thousands of products mainly made with imported hemp.

But in 2018, political, market and environmental forces are uniting in a perfect storm to change hemp’s domestic destiny, and we believe that now is the perfect time to go “all-in” with hemp investments. We are pressing the issue at my cannabis lifestyle company, Chiefton Supply Co., making our hemp apparel available nationally, and preparing to bring our production stateside as soon as possible -- which we see as much closer of a possibility than ever before. Here are three reasons why.

1. Rising Political Tide

The political will to change hemp's current legal status crosses party lines.

Since 2015, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has introduced bills to exclude hemp from the CSA. In April of this year, he once again took up the charge, with the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, which has picked up nearly 30 co-sponsors as of early August. The bill would help farmers in other ways, too, such as making USDA funding and water rights available to them and allowing them to insure their crops.

On the other side of the aisle, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has said: "It’s past time that we move beyond these outdated and frustrating restrictions on hemp farming in the United States. If we’re selling hemp products in the United States, we should be growing hemp in the United States—it’s good for jobs, good for our communities, and it’s just common sense."

While hemp awaits legalization on a federal level, there is a patchwork of state-by-state regulations around growing and researching. Currently, it is illegal to grow hemp in the United States without being issued a special permit from your state or from the DEA.

This is a far cry from hemp’s heyday during World War II when the American government promoted a Hemp for Victoryprogram, and farmers grew about 150,000 acres of hemp. As far back as the 18th century, hemp was an important crop, used to produce rope and textiles.

But progress is being made. The 2014 Farm Bill began to turn things around for hemp farmers, legalizing the cultivation of industrial hemp for research purposes in states “where such growth and cultivation is legal under State law, notwithstanding existing Federal statutes that would otherwise criminalize such conduct.” To date at least 35 states have taken advantage of this legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 2017, nearly 25,000 acres of industrial hemp were cultivated in 19 states, reports the advocacy group Vote Hemp.

Chiefton’s home state of Colorado leads the nation in hemp production and was the first in the nation to certify domestic hemp seeds.

2. Massive Market

The numbers prove that the market is hungry for hemp. Despite its legal challenges, American consumers purchased more hemp than any other nation -- an estimated $688 million worth of products -- in 2016.

Personal care products made up almost a quarter of those sales (about $163 million), while food and CBD products each were 19 percent and other industrial applications were 18 percent. Textiles were 14 percent of the market, close to $100 million.

Sales have been increasing for the past several years, tripling from 2012 to 2016, and are projected to hit $1.8 billion by 2020.

Hemp has a seemingly infinite set of uses, stretching far beyond food and health. Car manufacturers like BMW are including it in their panels, the construction industry is using it for insulation, and researchers are looking at hemp biofuel for vehicles. At Chiefton Supply Co., we’ve consciously moved over to using hemp in our apparel.

I can say from firsthand experience that consumer response has been overwhelmingly positive. A common question asked at our booth during cannabis festivals is: “Are your cannabis leaf-print shirts and shorts made of hemp?” After more than a year of sourcing and innovating, I'm glad I can finally answer, “Yes!”

3. It's Sustainable

The last reason hemp is a great investment right now?  It's an environmentally-friendly crop.

Hemp requires 50 percent less water and land than cotton to grow. It’s a drought-resistant, resilient crop that can grow well in poor soil, yet causes less soil nutrient depletion than many other major crops.

Hemp is considered the world’s most durable textile. Since it’s four times more durable than cotton, hemp helps fulfill the “reduce / reuse” aspect of environmental sustainability.

One of the other advantages of a friendlier political climate is that it makes it easier for agronomists and other scientists to do more research on making hemp crops even more sustainable and profitable in the United States.

Right now, given the limited number of acres on which to grow in any given state, producing domestic hemp costs more than cotton for example. But consumers have shown they are willing to pay more for a higher-quality product that is more responsible when it comes to environmental impact.

On a common-sense level, using the most sustainable textile is simply the right thing to do. States like Colorado are positioned well to lead in domestic hemp production, creating good jobs in a supportive market. What comes next is reviving and rebuilding processing infrastructure for hemp, which will be a prime opportunity for investment.

We’re looking forward to the day hemp returns to its rightful place as a central crop in America’s economy. And we eagerly encourage federal lawmakers to keep propelling this important issue to the top of their priorities list.