Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp
A bill passed by the Texas Legislature will usher in a new era of legal hemp in Texas. The same bill will also explicitly legalize the sale of CBD oil supplements by licensed vendors.
“It was voted out of the House and the Senate unanimously,” said Coleman Hemphill, president of the Texas Hemp Industries Association, a recently formed chapter of the national Hemp Industries Association nonprofit. Ministry of Hemp is also a member of the HIA.
Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp
Police raided a pair of north Texas CBD stores recently, even as policymakers in the Lonestar State began reevaluating the legal status of hemp and CBD.
On March 15, police raided GM Tobacco stores in Duncanville and Lancaster, Texas. These two suburbs are located just south of Dallas, in the larger Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area of northern Texas. Amy Wazwaz, who co-owns the stores with her husband Houd, told NBC DFW that police seized about $50,000 in hemp-derived CBD, including hundreds of CBD oil products and about 30 pounds of loose, smokable hemp. Police also took cash from the register and the safe.
Dan Sullivan, attorney for the Wazwaz family, told Ministry of Hemp that the stores only sold legal, high-quality CBD products. “They won’t sell anything that doesn’t have third party lab testing” proving its purity and legality, he explained.
Posted in Act Out!, Journalism, Ministry of Hemp, and Video
I appeared on the newest episode of Act Out!
I spoke with host Eleanor about the recent legalization of hemp via the 2018 Farm Bill. We talk about what hemp can do for people and planet, discuss what the FDA plans to do about CBD, and then look at what this means for overall cannabis legalization.
Posted in Audio, Journalism, Ministry of Hemp, and Video
Ministry of Hemp Editor in Chief Kit O’Connell spoke with Dawn Peacock, host of CBD Talk Podcast about recent hemp news in the U.S., including the 2018 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill, recently signed into law, fully legalizes industrial hemp in the United States.
While the Farm Bill represents a huge win for hemp advocates, there’s still more to do before hemp and CBD are fully accessible to everyone. A recent FDA statement about CBD’s legality after the Farm Bill has left people confused and concerned about the supplement’s future in the U.S. Dawn and Kit talk about what the memo really means, and why it could show the FDA is actually warming up to CBD.
he state dropped all criminal charges against the Beguins. Charges were dropped “without prejudice,” meaning the state could choose to reintroduce them again at a later date.
“We are thankful the development,” said attorney Maren Chaloupka in an emailed statement. Chaloupka, from the Scottsbluff-based firm Chaloupka, Holyoke, Snyder, Chaloupka & Longoria, represented the Beguin’s in the case, thanks to the financial assistance of CBD vendors Medterra. Chaloupka told us:
Posted in Journalism, and Ministry of Hemp
The United States just legalized hemp.
Pres. Donald Trump signed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, better known as the 2018 Farm Bill, earlier today. This omnibus bill includes numerous programs and policy changes, not all of which are related to agriculture. For hemp supporters and industry professionals, it’s a cause for celebration. Hemp is now out of reach of the Drug Enforcement Administration and, with a few notable exceptions, closer to being treated like any other crop.
“It’s been a long time coming and a lot of people have put a lot of effort in to get [legal hemp] to happen,” said Courtney Moran, founding principle of Earth Law, LLC, a firm that specializes in hemp law.
