Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Now Accepting Farmer Applications for New Hemp Pilot Program

Source: oklahomafarmreport.com




Applications to participate in the Oklahoma Industrial Hemp Pilot Program are now available.

Oklahoma universities and colleges with a plant science curriculum are eligible to apply for an annual license from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) to grow Industrial Hemp for research. While independent producers may not directly apply for a license, they may contract with a university or college to obtain a license and participate in the pilot program.

Institutions wishing to participate in the pilot program should submit an application to ODAFF no less than 30 days prior to planting or cultivating an industrial hemp crop. Those hoping to plant a crop in 2018, are encouraged to get their applications in within the next two weeks in order to meet the 30-day requirement prior the end of planting season. 

An application fee as well as an inspection fee is due at the time the license application is submitted. A separate license is required for each cultivation site. 

The producer will be responsible for obtaining hemp seed containing less than 0.3% delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration. ODAFF will approve seeds certified by another state, province or country as containing less than 0.3% THC. ODAFF will verify the certification once the plant has emerged and can be tested. 

The Oklahoma Hemp Pilot Program License is available on the home page of www.oda.state.ok.us. If you have additional questions, please send them to hemp@ag.ok.gov.

Source - Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry

Brewery Told to Stop Making Beer With Hemp-Derived Extract

By
Source: usnews.com

U.S. officials have ordered a San Francisco brewery to stop producing beers containing cannabidiol, the hemp-derived compound known as CBD.

Jim Furman, CEO of Black Hammer Brewing, poses for photos in front of barrels in San Francisco, Thursday, May 24, 2018. U.S. officials have ordered the San Francisco brewery to stop producing beer containing cannabidiol, the hemp-derived extract known as CBD. The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is allowing Black Hammer Brewing to sell the rest of the CBD beer it already brewed, including one called Toke Back Mountain. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) The Associated Press

 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — U.S. officials have ordered a San Francisco brewery to stop producing a specialty beer containing cannabidiol, the hemp-derived extract known as CBD, because it lacks the proper permitting.

The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is allowing Black Hammer Brewing to sell the rest of the CBD beer it has already brewed, including an IPA called Toke Back Mountain that was introduced in 2017 in honor of the 4/20 marijuana holiday.

Like marijuana, hemp is a cannabis plant. But it contains very little THC, the compound that gives pot its high. CBD is seen by many as a health aid, though scientific proof is lacking.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that the order to stop brewing cannabis beer was issued because the trade bureau requires special approval for non-standard beer ingredients.

The brewery plans to apply for the approval.

It's surprising what is considered standard and nonstandard in the American beer industry. Rose hips are standard but rosewater is not. Guava is standard, but not passion fruit.

Hemp is not on the standard list and neither are terpenes, the compounds that Black Hammer uses to give the beers its dank cannabis flavor.

"Our guests love the CBD beers, and we're pretty sad that we have to stop producing them," said owner Jim Furman.

Furman said he considers Hippie Hill, an imperial IPA, to be his greatest success of the eight CBD beers he has created.

"It's got the most dialed-in cannabis flavor profile," he said.

 

Texas Backs Off Changes That Could've Led to CBD Confiscation, for Now

By Stephen Young
Source: dallasobserver.com


Inside one of CBD Kratom's two Dallas stores.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has tapped the brakes on a proposed protocol that could've seen all food and supplements containing cannabidiol oil removed from Texas store shelves, thanks to a deluge of comments sent to the agency last month in support of the products.

"The protocol that was proposed had only addressed hemp byproducts in food, and the public comments we received made it clear that CBD was being added to a wide variety of products," Texas DSHS spokeswoman Lara Anton said in a statement to the Observer. "After reviewing the comments, we realized that we needed to gather more information about the use of CBD in other types of products before making any decisions on how to enforce existing laws that apply to foods, drugs and cosmetics. We are gathering more information before deciding how to proceed."

Under the rules proposed by the department last month, any food product or supplement that had "a statement on the label, in the ingredient statement, or any other material indicating that the products contains phytocannabinoids, CBD or THC," would be subject to confiscation during a DSHS inspection.

Such a regulation would've been bad news for the shops, evocative of dispensaries in states with legalized marijuana, that have popped up around Dallas over the last year or so selling food and supplements boasting of the benefits of CBD oil, which is derived from hemp and used in smoothies, brownies or capsules. The products contain trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, less than the federal limit of 0.3 percent. THC is the main compound in marijuana that gets users stoned. Cannabidiol, or CBD, doesn't have that effect, but some say it relieves pain, anxiety, spasms and a host of other ailments.

Dafna Revah, the co-owner of two shops named simply CBD Kratom that sell CBD products in Oak Cliff and Knox-Henderson, says she hopes that Texas DSHS will be swayed by public sentiment in favor of CBD products.

"It's great. I think that in the public comment period that they had, they saw how much the public just wants to continue to be able to get CBD products," Revah says. "I don't know what they were really trying to do — whether they were just trying to get businesses to stop selling products that they really didn't like — but I thought it was interesting that they just put it on hold and didn't say what they were going to do in the future."

"We just keep doing what we're doing. We've seen [similar rules proposed] in other cities and other states. It's just how it goes." — Dafna Revah

 

Revah says that the stores she owns with her husband will continue on the same path, even facing the specter of potential changes in the way Texas enforces rules regarding CBD products.

 

"We just keep doing what we're doing. We've seen [similar rules proposed] in other cities and other states. It's just how it goes," Revah says.

Attorney Richard Cheng of the law firm Dykema Cox Smith sent a letter to DSHS on behalf of the Texas Cannabis Industry Association after the draft rules were released, arguing that the Texas Department of Public Safety, rather than DSHS, "is the designated state agency to govern issues related to cannabis and cannabis related products."

He said Tuesday that he is glad DSHS is slowing down the process.

"They feel that, if this stuff is out in the public, it's going to do harm to the general public," Cheng says. "I can understand their position. I certainly don't want to minimize their concerns, but I don't think they've exercised the appropriate route to work in collaboration with people who have spent more time in this arena versus just going off and taking a position."

 

 

Oregon Cannabis Growers Shifting Toward Hemp Production

By Danny Reed
Source: mgretailer.com

Springfield, Oregon-When it comes to cannabis production, there can actually be too much of a good thing. Because of a drastic oversupply, prices have been driven down considerably. Growers are now beginning to turn their attention toward hemp to stay profitable.

Hemp is derived from the cannabis plant but is known for its industrial properties. Hemp typically contains 0.3 percent THC or less and does not produce any psychedelic effects. It is legally federally and often used to produce food, clothing, building materials, and more.

Right now, Oregon officials are fielding requests to legally grow hemp at a rate 20 times higher than in 2015. Only Colorado is producing more hemp in the United States. A total of 19 states have legalized some form of hemp production.

Another reason for the increase in hemp’s appeal seems to be related to CBD, a cannabinoid that does not produce a “stoned” feeling like THC does. CBD is often used to treat chronic pain and other medical ailments. Growers in Oregon are starting to rely more on CBD derived from Hemp than THC heavy cannabis flower.

Approximately 50 percent of the hemp grown across the country is being produced for CBD extraction.

Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp, feels that the transition for cannabis growers into hemp is a natural one.

“There are a lot of growers who already have experience growing cannabis, and when you’re growing for CBD, there are a lot of the same techniques that you use for growing marijuana,” Steenstra said according to Voice of America.

Jerrard McCord is a grower in Southern Oregon. He has dedicated a considerable portion of his grow space to focus on hemp.

“This is a business. You’ve got to adapt, and you’ve got to be a problem solver,” McCord said.

Overall, the price of cannabis flower has fallen about 50 percent since 2015 according to an analysis by the Oregon Office of Economics.

Although some of Oregon’s overstock of cannabis is being illegally exported, much of it remains in state and is saturating the market. Many growers are actually now viewing traditional cannabis flower as a waste of precious grow space.

Trey Willison has made the transition from cannabis to hemp production and is even considering destroying some of his cannabis plants to make room for hemp.

“Whoever would have thought we’d get to the point of destroying pounds of marijuana?” Willison said.

 

Tidal Shift or Bump in the Road? The Story of Industrial Hemp

By Lane Powell
Source: jdsupra.com

Lost in the rubble left by last week’s noisy collapse of H.R. 2 (the Agriculture and Nutrition Act, commonly known as the Farm Bill) are some significant developments in the United States’ progress towards legalizing the cultivation of industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is the same species as its THC-laden cousin marijuana, Cannabis Sativa L., but is cultivated differently to produce long, fibrous stalks suitable for industrial use, and to minimize the production of the characteristic flowers commonly associated with marijuana. Industrial hemp production is legal in the United States to the extent allowed by Section 7606 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the Farm Bill of 2014), which authorizes state departments of agriculture and educational institutions to regulate research and pilot programs to determine the viability of hemp as an industrial crop.

Since 2014, at least 35 states have implemented some kind of legislation regulating the production of industrial hemp. As with state marijuana laws, the result is an inconsistent patchwork of state regulatory systems. In contrast to marijuana, industrial hemp cultivation pursuant to a state’s pilot program has the qualified blessing of the federal government, which would seem to make it a more attractive opportunity than marijuana. Practically speaking, however, the current business climate for industrial hemp production is fraught with uncertainty and lacking basic business services like banking and insurance. This is due to a vague federal mandate combined with state regulatory frameworks that are much less rigorous as compared to those governing marijuana.

Leading up to the 2018 Farm Bill, this state of affairs seemed poised to change. Broad bipartisan support for industrial hemp resulted in a number of proposed amendments that would have:

• Legalized industrial hemp and made crop insurance available,
• Explicitly excluded industrial hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, and
• Opened up banking for pilot program participants.

However, prior to the final vote on the 2018, Republicans on the House Rules Committee led by Pete Sessions (R-TX) (no, the other anti-cannabis Sessions) blocked consideration of these amendments. None of them made it into the final version of H.R. 2, which ended up failing amidst partisan wrangling over the content of the Farm Bill itself as well as some good old-fashioned hostage taking by conservatives over immigration issues.

All is not lost, however, as industrial hemp continues to gather bipartisan supporters, including Mitch McConnell (R-KY) himself, a champion of Kentucky’s early and successful pilot program. As the Senate considers its own version of the Farm Bill, expected to arrive with less controversy in June, look for hemp-focused fixes that may bring some needed clarity to a growing but uncertain industry.

Nanotechnology Brings a Unique Perspective to Cannabis

By Laura Kuhl
Source: potnetwork.com

A new trend could be emerging in the cannabis industry. Nanotechnology is starting to attract the attention of the cannabis industry, especially when it comes to medical marijuana and cannabinoid pharmaceuticals.

What is Nanotechnology?

In the simplest of terms, nanotechnology is the ability to alter and customize substances at the atomic level. This kind of tiny technology sounds like it belongs in a comic book. It is exactly the tech Tony Stark uses to rebuild his Iron Man suits in real time. But nanotechnology has been used by pharmaceuticals companies for over the past decade.

Nanotechnology is necessary to help the human body absorb many of the non-water soluble ingredients in medication. It is ideal for patients suffering from chronic pain who benefit most from a stable, time-release therapy.

It is in this area of research where the relationship between nanotechnology and cannabis pays off.

According to Cannabis Tech, cannabis is more effective in “nano form.” Patients can feel the effects in less than 15 minutes because nanotechnology directly enhances how much (or how little) cannabis is absorbed into the bloodstream.

One pot stock cashing in on this area of research is GB Sciences Inc. (OTC:GBLX). In October, they contracted the University of Seville (USE) to research nanotechnology and develop a time-released version of their THC-free chronic pain therapies. GB Sciences wants to provide patients with medication that does not come with any psychoactive side effects.

“We believe that developing a time-released formulation in conjunction with USE would increase the effectiveness of our chronic pain therapy and improve patient compliance. Time-release formulas are taken less frequently and achieve more consistent pain relief over time,” Dr. Andrea Small-Howard, Chief Science Officer at GB Sciences, clarified in a statement last fall.

Delay and other variabilities of onset are just a few ways nanotechnologies can be used in the cannabis sphere. Controlling the dosage of medical marijuana is another. Traditional edibles can take up to an hour to achieve the desired effects, and improper dosing can make it almost impossible to recreate effective medical treatments over time. Nanotechnology brings a level of precision to medical marijuana.

Nanotechnology and Cannabis in Real Time

Abattis Bioceutcals Corp. (CSE.ATT) (OTC.ATTBF) and the University of British Colombia started collaborating earlier this year to develop their nano-delivery tech for cannabis and hemp oils. The research aims to create nanotechnology that will enhance the oral delivery of cannabis.

Abattis also signed an agreement with Cannamedix last week that promises the provision of any current research the cannabis company is engaged in, including nanotech. According to the press release, Abattis CEO Rob Abenate wants to support the efforts of Cannamedix to create one of the first cannabis-infused natural health products in Canada.

“Our partnership with Cannamedix showcases another example of our commitment to offer R&D, analytical, regulatory and distribution services to the nascent cannabis and hemp markets,” Mr. Abenate added on May 17.

But GB Sciences might beat them to it. They finished the development of their nanotechnology with USE in April and received their exclusive worldwide license to manufacture the time-release nanoparticles. The company’s chief science officers, including Dr. Small-Howard, were trained in all aspects of nanoparticle manufacturing and quality control, emphasizing GB Sciences’ dedication to this area of technological development.

“This product could really be a game-changer for patients who suffer from neuropathic pain. We are eager to begin manufacturing these licensed nanoparticles in the US; thus, continuing the development and commercialization of this important therapeutic option," Dr. Small-Howard said.

9 Summer-Ready Shirts Made with Your New Favorite Material

By John Zientek
Source: gearpatrol.com

Hemp blends are becoming more prevalent in men’s shirting. Like with linen, hemp does not require chemicals for growth or processing, but it’s the strength — and lack of stretch — of the fiber, that makes it most interesting.

 

Hemp cannot be woven into fabric on looms that only produce cotton fabric due to the natural stretch inherent in cotton, but it can be woven on looms designed to handle the rugged characteristics of linen. Because of this, many brands are incorporating more hemp into their clothing lines. From a materials standpoint, the switch is a major upgrade. Hemp is hypoallergenic and environmentally friendly. The plant is resistant to pests, requires little water and has a very short growth cycle. In fact, it’s so easy to grow that it doesn’t even have an organic certification process.

 

The brands utilizing hemp range from the sustainably minded (e.g. Patagonia, Outerknown) to the luxury-inclined (e.g. Saint Laurent). As with linen shirts, these garments blend hemp with another fiber (usually organic cotton) to add softness and keep prices low. As more consumers buy hemp, the fiber will become more readily available, meaning it’ll become more affordable, too. For now, though, shirts cut from hemp blends are a solid alternative to traditional summer linen-wear. They’re lightweight, breathable and fit for any casual setting the warmer months have in store.

Gramicci Rincon Shirt

Cut from a hemp and recycled polyester blend, this short sleeved shirt has a small percentage of spandex for comfort. The design features two chest pockets, contrast twill tape on the inner placket and a spread collar.

 

BUY NOW: $35

Duluth Trading Co. Hemp F.O.M Short Sleeve Shirt

This lightweight shirt is made from a 5.3-ounce blend that includes hemp and organic cotton. It features easy-moving armpit gussets, two shoulder pleats, a button-down collar and two chest pockets.

 

BUY NOW: $50

United by Blue Mountain Print Button-Down Shirt

This shirt has a subtle mountain print on a lightweight hemp-recycled poly blend. The design features a single chest pocket, a button-down collar and a box pleat on the back.

 

BUY NOW: $68

Patagonia Back Step Shirt

Made from an incredibly lightweight four-ounce hemp-organic cotton blend, this shirt features two chest pockets, a shirttail hem with side vents and coconut buttons.

 

BUY NOW: $69

Outerknown Beachcomber S/S Shirt

This breathable shirt is made from a very soft hemp-Tencel Lyocell chambray. The design includes a French placket, a chest pocket and a rounded bottom hemp with a button at the side seam scallop.

 

BUY NOW: $75

Orvis Hemp/Tencel Short-Sleeved Shirt

This lightweight shirt is cut from a hemp-Tencel blend and features a single chest pocket, a straight hem and subtle side vents. It’s available in five solid colors and comes in sizes S through XXL.

 

BUY NOW: $79

Taylor Stitch The California Shirt

Made from a five-ounce hemp-organic cotton blend, this shirt features durable double-needle construction throughout. The design includes two chest pockets, cats eye urea buttons and a tailored fit.

 

BUY NOW: %98

Naked and Famous Faded Plaid Shirt

Utilizing a Japanese hemp-cotton blend, this plaid shirt is made in Canada. It features a single chest pocket, barrel cuffs and a button-down collar.

 

BUY NOW: $159

Saint Laurent Checked Flannel Shirt

Made in Italy, this flannel shirt is cut from a cotton-hemp blend. It features a spread collar, two chest pockets and a regular fit.

 

BUY NOW: $850