The Two Year Anniversary of The Passing of the 2018 Farm Bill

Wow, it\’s been two years since the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill. That was actually passed on December 20, 2018. Low THC cannabis, called hemp, became legal in the US after decades of being illegal. The 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law by President Trump, and it was worth 867 billion dollars. The words that would forever change the entire cannabis industry were that the term illegal cannabis would not include hemp.

On December 20, 2018, the Farm Bill allowed for removing cannabis with less than 0.3% THC from federal control, and it was placed under the control of agricultural authorities instead. It was taken off of the Controlled Substances List, and federal rules were put in place to replace statewide regulations regarding hemp.

Even though these milestones were achieved, the US Food and Drug Administration, FDA, still maintained that it would regulate how CBD could be used. It was promised, in those guidelines, that CBD would be reviewed, which the hemp industry is looking forward to. On April 18, 2019, the US Department of Agriculture, USDA, assisted hemp producers with bringing hemp seed to the United States. This memo meant that the US Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, no longer had the sole authority of controlling the movement of cannabis into and out of this country. Only six days later, on April 24, 2019, the USDA announced another major change for the cannabis plant. It stated that the Plant Variety Protection Office would begin to take applications for cannabis growers to receive official protection for seed varieties of cannabis.

Then, there was a decision, on October 28, 2019, about national rules, by the USDA, that were strict on the sampling and testing processes for hemp, since any plants that contained more than 0.3% THC were destroyed. On February 26, 2020, federal officials delayed the requirement that all of the THC testing on hemp plants had to be done at DEA registered labs. Then the agency also softened the rule for destroying hemp crops. These were positive steps that the USDA had been listening to concerns about these rules for hemp.