The 2018 Farm Bill is nearly ready to go to President Trump’s desk for a signature. The Farm Bill includes many provisions, but one of the most interesting is the inclusion of industrial hemp.
The bill will LEGALIZE INDUSTRIAL HEMP
This is ANOTHER huge step forward for the cannabis industry in general. If passed, industrial hemp will be removed from the Controlled Substances List and will officially be a legalized agricultural commodity in the United States.
Industrial hemp can be used as a raw material for paper, clothing, or even plastic. However, I think the most significant development has been the discovery that CBD can be extracted from industrial hemp. Proponents of CBD suggest it has a number of therapeutic uses, but it will not get you “high” since hemp only has trace amounts (if any) of the psychotropic compound, THC.
In my opinion, the inclusion of industrial hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill is yet another step toward the legalization of cannabis. While hemp cannot get you high, CBD can also be extracted from hemp’s cousin, the marijuana plant. Therefore, growing usage and support of CBD products could support demand for products that contain a combination of THC and CBD in the future.
Regardless, from an investment standpoint, when industrial hemp is removed from the Controlled Substances List, a large barrier for hemp companies to go public vanishes and these companies become more viable investment opportunities since they have free access to one of the largest projected cannabis markets, the United States.
Sources: Bloomberg - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-11/senate-passes-farm-bill-after-food-stamp-forestry-snags-settled