WHY IS CBD EVERYWHERE?
The New York Times asked a provocative question in the latest issue of their Sunday Magazine: Why is CBD everywhere?
The answer from our perspective: Because it works!
The highlighting of CBD products by the New York Times reflects the mainstreaming of CBD products and provides a boost to the hemp industry.
It is incredible how many different CBD products are now available and the mainstream exposure will certainly attract bigger players to the market. We recommend you check it out.
DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY OF THE NEW OBSERVATIONS MAGAZINE HEMP ISSUE
New Observations Magazine is an independent, non-profit contemporary arts journal that is written edited and published by the arts community. Our good friend Mia Feroleto recently published issue #131 which focused on industrial hemp and features a number of articles by and about the hemp industry.
The issue features an incredible cover photo of Alex White Plume taken by fine-art photographer Mitch Epstein.
Print copies of the magazine are scarce (we have a few for donors of $50 or more) but we are offering you the chance to New Observations: Industrial Hemp Superhero Savior of Humanity copy of New Observations for FREE.
FARM BILL UPDATE
Prospects for passage of a new Farm Bill this year are not good. Negotiations stalled in September over SNAP work requirements and several other issues. The good news is that the Hemp Farming Act provision included in the Senate version of the bill has not been a sticking point. There was some hope that negotiations could resume after the mid-term election but that now seems unlikely due to the need to pass hurricane relief legislation during the short lame duck session.
WHATS NEXT FOR THE FARM BILL?
Congress will likely pass a continuing resolution to keep the existing Farm Bill provisions in place for a period of time. Then the legislation will have to be taken up again in the 116th Congress staring in January. If the Democrats win control of the House, there is a good chance they will pass a different bill, likely similar to the current Senate version.
WHEN WILL IT PASS?
Nobody knows for sure but it won’t likely be in the first few months of the year. The legislative process starts over and it will take months until the bills are passed again in the House and Senate and then a new Conference Committee will be chosen to restart negotiations. The last Farm Bill was more than a year late making it to the Presidents desk. Hopefully this one will be resolved more quickly.
WILL THE FELON BAN SURVIVE?
Vote Hemp has been working with the Drug Policy Alliance and several hemp advocacy groups to push for removal of a drug felon ban that was added to the legislation in the Farm Bill. This ban would disallow anyone who had a previous drug felony conviction from participating in hemp farming or processing. We feel that it is wrong to punish someone again after they have paid their debt to society. This restriction also would negatively affect states which don’t have such a ban in place such as Colorado.
Vote Hemp helped lead a stakeholder letter to Farm Bill conferees asking that they remove the felon ban. We also created an action alert for conferees which has generated thousands of letters. If you haven’t yet sent an alert, please do so now.
We will keep you updated with any Farm Bill developments.