Harvesting Hemp

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]A[/dropcap]s legal cannabis grows in popularity and becomes legal across the nation, its non-psychoactive cousin, hemp, is gaining more traction as well. Here in Colorado, where cannabis is already very socially accepted, hemp and cannabidiol (CBD) may become regulated similarly to other food ingredients.

House Bill 1295 passed the Senate and the House, and as of May 16, is now headed to Gov. John Hickenlooper for final approval. If passed, the bill would apply additional food manufacturing guidelines to products like coffee infused with CBD oil and other products made from hemp.

HB-1295 has had strong support from legislators, who believe that passing this bill is the next step toward further legitimizing the industrial hemp industry. “We stood behind this bill because of how it will help the Colorado economy,” Rep. Joe Salazar, one of the sponsors of the bill, explained to CULTURE. “This will help us provide a vehicle to expand economic opportunities. It’s going to expand the industry. The idea isn’t to further regulate the industry, but to ensure that it can compete with other industries.”

Rather than struggle against this new line of regulations, the local hemp industry is welcoming it, because the industry aims to be on par and in competition with hemp industries in other states. If hemp is regulated just like any other food item, it will have to stand up to the same universal standards of food products and ingredients.

If the bill passes, it would also ensure that these Colorado hemp manufacturers would be operating under the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), which would increase their credibility and transparency with customers. Currently, there are 94 businesses registered as hemp manufacturers under Colorado’s industrial hemp food manufacturing policy, so there are many businesses that would be affected.

At this point in time, Colorado hemp companies are just working off of relevant legislation from 2013, interpreting the legal language to say that they can run hemp businesses. While this does allow for the creation and legalization of an industry, it doesn’t set out strict standards or guidelines from the industry to operate from. These new provisions, if passed, would double down on safeguards and prohibit other companies from interfering with the production and sale of hemp products.

“We stood behind this bill because of how it will help the Colorado economy. This will help us provide a vehicle to expand economic opportunities.”

HB-1295 has been two years in the works, and was originally met with a lot of resistance from the legislature. At the time, state regulators were concerned that passing a regulation like this would draw too much negative attention to Colorado’s industry and invite intervention.

CDPHE’s Manufactured Food Division receives approximately $500,000 every year generated from licensing revenue and about $420,000 from federal sources for work-related needs to quality control standards, so there should be plenty of funding for this new bill if it passes.

While some fear that the overall hemp industry will still ultimately suffer until hemp becomes federally legalized and regulated, this will clearly be a huge, positive step forward for Colorado’s industry.