As in-home pot edibles increase, they sicken more children; more than half of those in a study were 2 or 3 years old

Marijuana edibles are displayed at a dispensary.
(Photo by Steve Marcus, Las Vegas Sun)

As more states have legalized marijuana, the presence of pot edibles in U.S. homes has led to more accidental poisonings. "The number of young kids, especially toddlers, who accidentally ate marijuana-laced treats rose sharply over five years as pot became legal in more places in the U.S., according to a journal Pediatrics study," reports Jonel Aleccia of The Associated Press. "More than 7,000 confirmed cases of kids younger than 6 eating marijuana edibles were reported to the nation’s poison-control centers between 2017 and 2021, climbing from about 200 to more than 3,000 per year. Nearly a quarter of the children wound up hospitalized, some seriously ill."

Lead researcher Dr. Marit Tweet, a medical toxicologist at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, told Aleccia, "When it’s in a candy form or cookies, people don’t think of it in the same way as household chemicals or other things a child could get into. But people should really be thinking of it as a medication.” Tweet noted that the study could only include reported cases, so many less serious cases may have gone unreported.

"Tweet called for greater vigilance by parents and for more laws like those adopted by several states to make pot products — often packaged to look like kids’ candies and snacks — less appealing and accessible to children," Aleccia reports.

The study "analyzed reports to the National Poison Data System, which includes the nation’s 55 regional poison control centers. More than half of the children were toddlers, ages 2 and 3, the study showed. More than 90% got the edibles at home," Aleccia reports. "Of more than 7,000 reports, researchers were able to track the outcomes of nearly 5,000 cases. They found that nearly 600 kids, or about 8%, were admitted to critical care units, most often with depressed breathing or even coma. Nearly 15% were admitted to non-critical care units and more than a third were seen in emergency rooms. Drowsiness, breathing problems, fast heart rate and vomiting were the most common symptoms."

Dr. Brian Schultz, a pediatric emergency physician at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore who previously worked at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, told Aleccia that he and his colleagues treated kids who had eaten pot edibles 'almost on a daily basis'."

Western Mass. town is getting its 7th cannabis dispensary, so a Boston Globe reporter smokes through 'em all

Great Barrington, Massachusetts, population 7,000, is about to open its seventh marijuana dispensary. Why? Boston Globe reporter Billy Baker spent a day "smoking his way through town" to answer the question, "How did this happen?"

Theory Wellness was Baker's first stop. "The lot at Theory was packed with plates from New York and Connecticut, each just down the road from this southwest corner of Massachusetts," Baker writes. "Neither neighbor has recreational stores (yet), and that is the central plot line here — a geographic opportunity, coupled with voters who have resisted restrictions and essentially said, 'Let ‘em duke it out,' that has turned this small town into the pot capital of America."

Illustration by Greg Klee, Adobe Stock

There are other stops on the main federal highway in the Berkshires: "All of them are on a single road, Route 7, though there are calls (namely from me) to change its name to Route 420," Baker writes. After his stop at Theory where the budtender "rattled on for a few moments about the strand’s progeny like a stanky sommelier," Baker stopped into The Pass where joints were "actually called joints."

Next up, a visit to Rebelle, "the third recreational dispensary to open. I don’t really remember much from that, and soon my driver parked the car downtown as it was decided I should just walk to the next three alone. Which was cool. Totally cool. All good. Because Great Barrington is like super cute," Baker writes. Another shop, Farnsworth, "is owned by three siblings who are descendants of Philo Farnsworth, the 20th-century inventor who did pioneering work in the development of radio and television."

Great Barrington
(Wikipedia map)

Finally, after all the shopping and smoking and "trying to explain the point of my pointless excursion, which in that moment could be summarized with a single word: Why? Why did this cute little town allow this to happen?" Baker asks/ "Maybe the whole point is to suck up as much money as they can before New York and Connecticut open their dispensaries and a huge chunk of that cash disappears."

Baker goes on, "As I was now proving, too much weed can make you anxious and depressed, and I was at my saddest as I walked back across town to the most ridiculous sight: an actual castle with an oversized 'Dispensary' sign on the lawn. . . and I happily resisted an employee who invited me to sit on a throne, next to a suit of armor, and take a selfie."

Voters expand Medicaid in S.D., reject abortion restriction in Ky., approve recreational marijuana in Mo. and Md.

Among the many referenda on Tuesday's ballots, Kentucky voters rejected a proposal that would have kept state courts from finding a right to abortion in the state's constitution. That clears the way for the state Supreme Court to hear arguments next week in a lawsuit by the state's two abortion clinics against some of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws, one of which kicked in when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Both clinics are in Louisville, so rural access to abortion is difficult.

Voters in Michigan added abortion rights to their constitution. Voters in California and Vermont approved similar measures that would have little effect on existing law in those states, Lou Jacobson reports for U.S. News and World Report.

Voters in South Dakota expanded Medicaid to an estimated 42,000 people under the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. "The Republican-controlled state, where lawmakers have long resisted Medicaid expansion, is the seventh in the last five years to do so at the ballot box — and likely the last to do so for some time," reports Megan Messerly of Politico.

"A different health care proposal, in Oregon, was losing narrowly in early returns," Jacobson reports. "This measure was more vague.” It would add language to the constitution that says the state will "ensure" that every resident "has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right."

Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana, while those in Arkansas and the Dakotas defeated similar measures. Voters in Maryland also approved the idea, which carried every county except Allegany, at the state's western end.

"By a 2-1 margin, Iowa approved adding language to the state constitution affirming the right to own and bear firearms and require strict judicial scrutiny of any alleged violation, Jacobson reports. "Oregon voters were on their way to approving a measure to keep state lawmakers from running for reelection if they had 10 or more unexcused absences. The minority party – most recently Republicans – had used the state’s two-thirds quorum rule to shutter chamber business by not showing up for sessions. The measure was winning by a 2-1 margin. In Michigan, voters approved by a 2-1 margin a measure that would set 12-year term limits for state legislative service, as well as stiffen financial disclosure rules for legislators and statewide elected officials. And in North Dakota, voters approved an eight-year term limit for the governor and eight years in each legislative chamber. The measure passed with nearly two-thirds of the vote."

Nebraska and Nevada voters raised their states' minimum wages. "One blue state and one red state went their expected directions on ballot measures affecting labor unions," Jacobson reports. "By a 3-2 margin, Illinois appears to have passed a measure that would create a state constitutional right to collective bargaining. But in Tennessee, a right-to-work measure that makes it illegal for workplaces to mandate labor-union membership passed with 70%."

Voters in Jonesboro and the rest of Craighead County, Arkansas, cut the local library's property-tax rate in half. The vote "stemmed from protests over a gay pride book display in the library last year and a transgender author’s visit there earlier," Kenneth Heard writes for the Arkansas Advocate.

This story may be updated.

Legal weed in Calif. hasn't been economic boon expected, and has corrupted some local officials, L.A. Times finds

A dispensary advertisement in California.
(Photo by Mel Melcon, Los Angeles Times) 

Hoping for increases in tax revenue and an economic kickstart, some rural California communities quickly embraced the legal cannabis boom after a 2018 state law allowed them to decide whether weed businesses could sell or grow pot inside their borders. But a Los Angeles Times investigation found that the state's decentralized system has set the stage for rampant bribery and corruption of local officials. 

Over half of California's cities and counties don't allow any type of recreational marijuana sales or farming, but the newspaper found that those that do allow sales generally issue a limited number of business licenses, "creating fierce competition among entrepreneurs looking to cash in." The local officials, who have the power to issue those licenses or make local laws more weed-friendly, are essentially able to "choose winners and losers."

“You pay your way into one of the few spots,” Dominic Corva, a sociology professor and co-director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research at Cal Poly Humboldt, told the Times. “Once the game was limited licensing … it was like, who gets to have it?”

The Times report details numerous instances of local officials receiving suspicious payments from weed entrepreneurs looking to get an upper hand in the local market. In the small border town of Calexico, local officials projected $700,000 in annual tax revenue. But since 2018, the city has only collected $220,000 and lost a councilman and city commissioner to corruption. 

In early 2020, a city commissioner and councilman for Calexico, began meeting with who they thought was a businessman hoping to open a dispensary in their town of 40,000. The businessman agreed to pay the city officials $35,000 for what would be a "top spot in the queue" for city permits. After the city officials accepted the money in cash, the businessman revealed his true identity -- an undercover FBI agent. Both government officials would eventually plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. 

David Romero, the city commissioner who accepted the bribe, told the LA Times that the city made a mistake in only allowing for 12 permits. “If you put a number on it, you’ll turn it into a political mess,” Romero said. “It was just a ticking time bomb.”

Quick hits: Earmarks return; flooded post offices may not; pipelines leak carcinogens; a monk unites a community . . .

The return of congressional earmarks, with more transparency, is a boon to the selected local governments and their citizens, Route Fifty reports.

Kentucky communities worry the July flood will make them lose their post offices, the Jackson-Breathitt County Times-Voice reports.

How a solitary monk, known for his soup, united a rural community, from The Washington Post.

"A rural doctor gave her all, then her heart broke," from The New York Times.

The Associated Press has a feature story on the Ojibwe of Minnesota harvesting wild rice, imperiled by climate change.

A former county clerk in northeast Arkansas was sentenced to 57 months in prison for stealing more than $1.5 million in the first six months of 2020. He's 34 years old and was already in state prison serving a 10-year term, The Jonesboro Sun reports.

The University of Kentucky has established a center to research medical use of cannabis, following a law passed after a medical-marijuana law couldn't pass the legislature. Read about it here.

A study called "first of its kind" documents carcinogenic emissions from gas pipelines. Read it here.

A rural Virginia county considers deeding a Confederate statue and its plot to a private group in order to fend off possible attempts to remove it, The Washington Post reports.

Quintennial Census of Agriculture will have new questions on hemp, precision agriculture, internet access, and more

Some changes are coming to the Census of Agriculture, a survey of U.S. farmers and ranchers conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture every five years, according to a USDA press release. 

For one thing, USDA has a new web portal meant to make participation easier, especially for those with spotty internet or limited time who can't complete the entire survey in one sitting. The agency's National Agricultural Statistics Service, which conducts the census, invited about 15,000 farmers to do a trial run of the portal in January to iron out any bugs.

Also, the 2022 questionnaire will include new questions about the use of precision agriculture, hemp production, hair sheep, and updates to internet access.

In November, NASS will mail participating farmers a letter inviting them to fill out the census online, and mail out the paper questionnaire in December. Sign-ups for the census closed June 30, but sign-ups were only necessary for those who didn't participate in the 2017 census and aren't on the lists to get mail or emails for any other USDA surveys or censuses. 

Farms of all sizes that produced and sold $1,000 or more of agricultural products in 2022 (or normally would have done so) are eligible to participate. The survey has been conducted for more than 180 years, and remains the only source of comprehensive and impartial agricultural data for every state and county.

Drug roundup: Law enforcement warns about 'rainbow fentanyl'; young adults using pot and hallucinogens at record rates; needle exchange project in rural Nevada

Rainbow fentanyl (U.S. Customs and
Border Patrol Protection photo)

Law enforcement officials across the U.S. are reporting a spike in seizures of "rainbow fentanyl," a brightly-colored version of the synthetic opioid that often looks like candy. Some officials believe the drug is being marketed to children, but others dispute that. Still, officials agree that fentanyl is dangerous no matter what it looks like. Read more here and here.

The amount of young adults (ages 19 to 30) who report using marijuana and/or hallucinogens is at its highest rate since 1988, when the National Institutes of Health began tracking it. Marijuana vape usage reached pre-pandemic levels last month after dropping off in 2020. Meanwhile, hallucinogen usage rates began spiking in 2020. Bing drinking rates are also on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic. Read more here.

A needle exchange project modeled on urban efforts aims to save lives in rural Nevada. The program "comes as leaders in small, often conservative cities have been asked to adopt policies forged in large, more liberal cities, such as New York and San Francisco," Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez reports for Kaiser Health News. "Federal reports show people who use needle exchange programs are five times as likely to start drug treatment programs and three times as likely to stop using drugs as people who do not, but programs in Nevada and other states have faced similar pushback."

Quick hits: Rural hospital guide updated; we keep sorting ourselves into places we find more politically sympathetic

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

The Rural Health Information Hub has an updated resource guide on rural hospitals. Read it here.

Most small towns in Vermont are limiting big spending this year, partly because they voting by mail-in ballots rather than at their traditional town meetings. Read more here.

Hemp-farm neighbors in Navajo country complain about smell, lights, and water use. Read more here.

The Big Sort continues: Red political districts are getting redder and blue districts are getting bluer; part of that trend comes from people moving to places that align more closely with their political views. Read more here.

Immigrants and refugees are a growing part of small communities across the U.S. Read more here.

Agri-Pulse will host a webinar on March 2 to discuss how data is driving innovation in crop insurance and conservation. Read more here.

A recent podcast discusses young Americans' renewed interest in agriculture in a post-pandemic world. Listen to it here.

Growers see Okla. medical marijuana industry as a model for other states, but detractors warn against lax regulations

Medical marijuana is booming in Oklahoma, and growers say other states considering legalization should consider its example. But critics say lax regulations are causing big problems.

"While Oklahoma has become a kind of nirvana for growers and producers, who enjoy a relatively low start-up cost in comparison to other states, it has some lawmakers leery because of lax regulation," Graham Lee Brewer and Alicia Victoria Lozano report for CBS News. 

In the four years since Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana, "dispensaries have become as ubiquitous as gas stations and churches in much of Oklahoma, where state officials have licensed more than 12,000 marijuana-related businesses and about one in 10 people now own medical-marijuana cards," CBS reports. "Officials with the overwhelmed Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority said they’ve been able to inspect only a quarter of licensed marijuana businesses so far."

Gov. Kevin Stitt said this week that the language of the ballot initiative—which he believes misled voters—has made it difficult to regulate the cannabis industry: "This is causing major problems in our communities, and we must get it under control."

"Stitt said the relatively low cost of getting a business license and the lack of a cap on the number of growers has fueled a black market in Oklahoma that may require legislation to reform," CBS reports. "Rep. Rusty Cornwell, a Republican, has introduced legislation to place a temporary moratorium on issuing licenses, citing concern that out-of-state and foreign growers are exploiting loopholes in Oklahoma’s in-state residency requirements and taking advantage of the state’s limited enforcement resources, which has opened the door for organized crime." Another issue is the strain marijuana farms put on utilities.

"So far, 37 states have adopted medical-marijuana programs, and recreational marijuana use is legal in 18 of them," Brewer and Lozano report. And advocates are hopeful that a few of the 14 states that have yet to pass laws or approve ballot initiatives allowing the use of marijuana will do so in the next year or two, including Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky." Some states considering legalization see Oklahoma as a cautionary tale. Mississippi's legislature studied Oklahoma's oversight issues before writing up a bill legalizing medical marijuana for those with debilitating medical conditions; Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill last week.

Referendum roundup: New York state rejects looser voting rules; Maine adopts vague 'right to food' amendment

Off-year elections are usually pretty quiet, but voters are often asked to decide questions large and small. This week there were 24 statewide refernda in six states. Here are a few with rural resonance:

In Maine, by share of population the most rural state, two-thirds of voters approved a first-in-the-nation constitutional amendment establishing a "right to food," even though there's considerable confusion over what it means. "Described as an outgrowth of the food sovereignty movement, the amendment says Mainers have a right to grow and consume food of their choosing," Chuck Abbott reports for the Food and Environment Reporting Network. That extends to popular issues such as raw milk and the right to save and exchange seeds as long as it doesn't violate laws or exploit natural resources.

"Supporters used the campaign to make the case the amendment would ensure the right to grow vegetables and raise livestock in an era when corporatization threatens local ownership of the food supply," Patrick Whittle reports for The Associated Press. "They positioned the amendment as a chance for Mainers to wrestle control of the food supply back from large landowners and giant retailers with little connection to the community."

Abbott reports, "Opponents said the amendment was so broadly written that it could override animal cruelty laws or open the gate to domestic livestock in urban backyards. The Bangor Daily News said the ambiguous wording would put judges in charge of interpreting what the amendment means at the practical level." The paper also noted that the amendment doesn't expressly mention hunger.

In Colorado, 54 percent of voters rejected a measure that would have raised $150 million to partially fund private, out-of-school learning for children by raising the marijuana tax five percentage points to 20%, Jenny Brundin and Bente Birkeland report for Colorado Public Radio.

Proposition 119 aimed to help children falling behind because of the pandemic by providing tutoring, enrichment opportunities in the arts, career and technical training, physical therapy, mental health services, support for students with special needs, and mentoring. However, "opponents of the measure said it would have taken dollars away from public education and would have instead funded private companies to provide services," Brundin and Birkeland report.

In Texas, voters approved two constitutional amendments by broad margins. "Proposition 3, which was approved 63% to 37%, bars governments from taking any action that "prohibits or limits religious services," Asher Price reports for Axios Austin. "The proposition is part of a much broader national Covid-19 debate that pits public health officials bent on stymieing the disease's spread against pastors who say they were protecting their practice of religion."

And Proposition 6, approved by nearly 88% of Texas voters, "gives residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities the right to designate an 'essential caregiver' who could not, under most circumstances, be barred from in-person visits," Price reports. "The proposition comes after stories of elderly people enduring months of isolation as part of the fight against Covid-19." It's unclear whether nursing homes could bar essential caregivers who are unvaccinated or unmasked. Since nursing home workers must be vaccinated, it stands to reason that visitors would be more likely to infect residents. That could be particularly deadly, since nursing home residents are far more likely to die from Covid-19 than others.

Voters in New York rejected three amendments that would have broadened voting access by allowing same-day registration without proof of residency, let voters get absentee ballots without needing an excuse, and requiring that incarcerated New Yorkers be counted as living at their last place of residence in redistricting, Dana Rubinstein reports for The New York Times. Broadened voting access measures tend to benefit urban—and therefore more liberal—voters. And rural areas generally gain more political clout when prisoners are counted as local residents in redistricting.

Analysts say the measures were defeated because the language on the ballot was hard to understand, and because the Democratic party made little effort to boost the propositions, while the state Republican party used the ballot issues as lightning rods to turn out their base in an otherwise quiet election cycle, Rubinstein reports.

Medical marijuana boom strains rural Oklahoma utilities

Medical marijuana has exploded in popularity since it became legal in Oklahoma in 2018. Nearly 10 percent of Oklahomans have a medical marijuana card, which has ushered in a boom in the cannabis industry: there are more than 8,000 growers statewide. But marijuana is a thirsty crop, and indoor operations need grow lights, so the higher demand for water and electricity is straining some rural utilities, Seth Bodine reports for Harvest Public Media.

Iris Farms, just north of Oklahoma City, outside Stillwater, is a good example. Head grower Adam Miller told Bodine the farm raises about 5,000 cannabis plants, and says his electric bill can be up to $3,000 a month. But his water bill isn't too bad because the plants are raised indoors, where they can keep the plants watered more efficiently.

Sheldon Tatum, a rural water district manager in Hughes County, southeast of Oklahoma City, "says one of the eight growers that recently moved to his area used 223,000 gallons last month. Compare that to an average household of four that uses about 10,000 gallons a month," Bodine reports. "Tatum worries the surge in water demand could cause old pipes to break, raising maintenance costs that will lead to higher utility bills for everyone."

Quick hits: A look back at the "Field of Dreams' game; $19M for rural telehealth expansion; Indian may head Park Service

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email heather.chapman@uky.edu.

The "Field of Dreams" baseball game in Iowa on Aug. 12 put a spotlight on agriculture and the Midwest. Read more here.

The Agriculture Department is seeking public comments on its new IT system for managing civil rights discrimination complaints lodged against USDA programs and partners. Read more here.

A Native American may become the first director of the National Park Service. Charles F. "Chuck" Sams III, whom President Biden nominated on Wednesday, is a Navy veteran who has worked in non-profit natural resource and conservation management for over 25 years. Read more here.

Much of the growth in H-2A visas comes from tobacco mecca North Carolina. That means more immigrant farmworkers are getting nicotine poisoning. Read more here.

Also in North Carolina: Military veterans are lobbying the state legislature to legalize medical marijuana for pain, PTSD and more. It's an advocacy model that has worked in other states. Read more here.

The Biden administration is distributing over $19 million in grants to expand telehealth in rural and other underserved communities. Read more here.

Fall kicks in on the farm with pond-building and cow pedicures. Read more here.

Quick hits: rural migrant health; covering critical race theory; Biden rejects free-trade doctrine of Dem. predecessors . . .

A former pet goldfish pulled from a lake near Minneapolis.
(City of Burnsville photo)

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Experts offer journalists four tips on covering critical race theory. Read more here.

The Rural Health Information Hub has a new backgrounder guide to rural migrant health. Read more here.

More than 7,500 have applied for a program that promises incentives for remote workers who move to West Virginia. Read more here.

Wildlife officials are asking people to stop dumping their pet fish in lakes; the former pets grow so large that they could disrupt lake habitats. Read more here.

Though President Biden has not fully shifted away from President Trump's protectionist policies, Biden is the first modern Democratic president to reject "the dogma of free trade," George E. Condon Jr. writes for the National Journal. Read more here.

In a first for a federal criminal trial, prosecutors used tree DNA to prove that defendants had stolen valuable bigleaf maple trees from Olympic National Forest in Washington and sold them to local lumber mills. Read more here.

The industrial hemp boom has largely gone bust; experts speculate on what could happen next for growers, processors, and the hemp market in general. Read more here.

A Black family farm is fighting climate change and racism in agriculture. Read more here.

USDA hemp rules finalized after much push and pull

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has finished its review of a final rule for industrial hemp production, with an effective date of March 22. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp but sparse regulations led to widespread confusion and problems for producers and processors. The new rule is meant to address those concerns after much feedback from growers, state agencies, and industry groups nationwide.

"The final rule includes provisions for the USDA to approve hemp production plans developed by states and Indian tribes including requirements for maintaining information on the land where hemp is produced, testing the levels of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, disposing of plants not meeting necessary requirements and licensing requirements," Robert Hoban, an attorney who specializes in the cannabis industry, reports for Forbes. "It also establishes a federal plan for hemp producers in states or territories of Indian tribes that do not have their own USDA-approved hemp production plan."

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, whose feedback about potential problems with the interim final rule resulted in several adjustments to the final rule, said he is encouraged by it, but warned, "Additional challenges remain for the nation’s hemp industry, especially in light of the continued lack of action by the Food and Drug Administration. If this industry is to be successful, we need FDA to deliver clarity on hemp-derived cannabidiol products and their guidance cannot come soon enough."

USDA eases hemp rules on 'hot' crops, sampling and testing

The Agriculture Department released a final rule last Friday to address some of the widespread complaints from growers and state officials about federal hemp regulation, Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's Weekly Agriculture. Here's what's in the new rule, which is to take effect March 22:

1. It extends the window for farmers to have their hemp crops sampled by regulators, and loosens some of the sampling requirements.
2. Farmers have more options for dealing with "hot" crops, i.e., those that have more than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound in cannabis. Under the new rule, producers can use non-compliant hemp as "green manure" or other legal purposes instead of destroying it.
3. The rule gives farmers more wiggle room before they face legal consequences for growing hemp with too much THC. Farmers whose hemp has a certain level of THC can be considered "negligent" and face legal repercussions. The old threshold for negligence was 0.5%. Farmers, especially those new to the business, have long worried about accidentally tripping that threshold. The new rule increases the threshold to 1%, which USDA says will "increase flexibility to farmers as they learn more about how to grow compliant hemp and as the availability of stable hemp genetics improves."
4. USDA kept one of the most controversial provisions. Hemp still must be tested in labs licensed by the Drug Enforcement Agency, but USDA is delaying enforcement of that requirement until 2023 because there's currently a shortage of DEA-registered labs.

Two years after nationwide legalization, hemp industry slumping because of patchwork regulations, oversupply

"It’s been nearly two years since the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law, legalizing industrial hemp production nationwide and fueling hopes of a hemp farming boom. But that hasn’t panned out yet, with growers around the country still struggling to reap the benefits of the burgeoning crop sector," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's Weekly Agriculture. "After millions of acres of hemp were planted in 2019, production is way down this year; many growers gave up because of a steep drop in prices and the lack of a market for their crops."

Another big problem is inconsistent state regulations. "The Agriculture Department has approved hemp programs for 29 states and is negotiating with another 12," McCrimmon reports. "Some state agricultural officials were so unsatisfied with the regulatory framework that USDA proposed last year that they decided not to move forward with hemp initiatives. (Among the biggest complaints are the strict limits on THC that can be present in hemp crops and the stringent testing requirements to certify those levels of the psychoactive chemical.)"

Unclear federal oversight has also hurt the fledgling industry. The Food and Drug Administration "has yet to put forth regulations on cannabidiol, the widely popular compound derived from hemp that’s increasingly found in products from pills to pet foods. The agency’s CBD guidance has been awaiting approval from the White House since July," McCrimmon reports.

One thing hemp farmers have going for them: though they were excluded from an earlier round of federal aid for farmers hurt by the pandemic, the USDA announced in late September that hemp growers could apply for a slice of $14 billion in new relief.

Cannabis farmers are stuck without disaster aid or useful crop insurance because federal law disqualifies them

Farmers have had a rough two years, partly because of wild weather: derechos in the Midwest, wildfires in the South and West, and hurricanes in the Southeast. But while most can get disaster aid or crop insurance payouts, cannabis farmers have access to neither, and it's a threat to the fledgling industry.

Cannabis cultivation was authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill, but "because federal law defines marijuana as an illegal, dangerous drug, neither federal agencies nor conventional banks and major insurance companies will work with marijuana businesses even if they are legal under state law," Sophie Quinton reports for Stateline. "Nor are marijuana businesses eligible for federal disaster relief."

Though cannabis growers can buy crop insurance from local providers, one farmer told Quinton he couldn't find a policy worth the money. "Producers and industry supporters now are pushing for changes to federal relief law and seeking state disaster aid," Quinton reports.

First year of nationwide legal industrial hemp cultivation has been a bumpy ride; USDA reopens comment period on rules

UPDATE, Sept. 5: The Department of Agriculture "is reopening the comment period to the interim final rule (IFR) that was published on Oct. 31, 2019, and it has established the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program," Successful Farming reports. Comments will be accepted until Oct. 8.

The first year of nationwide legal cultivation of industrial hemp has been a bumpy one, but entrepreneurs and industry analysts say they're optimistic. "Although there are many more licensed hemp growers than there were in 2019, hemp acreage is down by 9 percent, the first year-on-year decrease since Congress allowed hemp pilot and research programs as part of the 2014 Farm Bill," Chuck Abbott reports for the Food & Environment Reporting Network. "Wholesale prices slumped this year due to an oversupply of hemp flowers and biomass. Some farmers were unable to find buyers for their 2019 crop."

The industry has been bedeviled by inconsistent regulations since the 2018 Farm Bill authorized widespread hemp cultivation but left most regulations up to state and local governments. The Food and Drug Administration, meanwhile, has not resolved questions about cannabidiol regulation, deterring many from investing in hemp, Abbott reports. The pandemic, too, has hurt the burgeoning industry just as it has hurt other agricultural sectors and the U.S. economy overall.

Hemp entrepreneur Morris Beegle said the industry has a "bright future," but must overcome obstacles to expand beyond the CBD market and into more whole-plant cultivation for things such as fiber, Abbott reports. "Hemp can also be used in textiles, biocomposites, fuel, and livestock rations, though those uses, which generate lower revenue for hemp biomass, have drawn less attention."

Hemp industry, once booming, now on a downward trend as federal government drags feet on regulations

The hemp boom could go bust, despite the early efforts of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to champion it, Mona Zhang and Paul Demko report for Politico.

After the 2018 Farm Bill legalized widespread hemp cultivation, largely thanks to the Kentucky senator, farmers and manufacturers rushed to get in on the ground floor of the industry, leading to oversupply and low wholesale prices. But patchwork local, state and federal laws have left producers, processors and consumers confused about the legality of hemp and left the door open to snake-oil peddlers who tout hemp-derived CBD as a cure-all without evidence. "All of those factors are hurting the very farmers hemp legalization was supposed to help," Zhang and Demko report.

Meanwhile, a slew of cannabis companies have declared bankruptcy over the past year, including two in McConnell's home state. "Many CBD producers, especially in Kentucky, seemed to be counting on McConnell's influence and FDA regulation," Zhang and Demko report. But McConnell "seems to be missing from the debate in recent months as they clamor for regulatory clarity that could help stave off the economic downturn for the industry."

House Agriculture Committee chair Collin Peterson, D-Minn., introduced a bill in January that would make the FDA regulate CBD products as if they were dietary supplements, "but the chances for such legislation are close to zero in the middle of the public-health crisis," Zhang and Demko report. "Hemp advocates are focused on inserting similar language in a coronavirus package, arguing that it could help boost an industry without additional costs to the federal government." Hemp is not eligible for the $16 billion direct-payment fund for farmers hurt by the pandemic.

Farmers and processors told Politico that it would be unfortunate if quibbles over CBD regulation tanked the hemp industry, since not all hemp is grown for CBD, and the plant has many other uses.

New federal hemp regulations would make it harder for farmers to prove their plants aren't marijuana

"New federal regulations would make it harder for hemp growers to prove their plants are not marijuana, in what could be a major setback to a promising industry legalized just two years ago, farmers and state officials say," Sophie Quinton and April Simpson report for Stateline.

When the 2014 Farm Bill legalized pilot programs for hemp production, each state set its own hemp testing standards to ensure that the crops contained less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient that legally distinguishes hemp from marijuana. Nationwide hemp cultivation was approved in the 2018 Farm Bill, but the measure included little direction for federal or state regulation and regulators have been playing catchup since then, Quinton and Simpson report.

In October the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled federal THC testing standards that are more rigorous and with a shorter time frame than those used in many states' pilot programs. "It also gives farmers less wiggle room to salvage crops that grow hot, or above the 0.3% THC mark," Quinton and Simpson write. "Now states are scrambling to adapt, and farmers are worrying they’ll face a higher risk of having to destroy crops that test 'hot' as marijuana."

Several state agriculture officials told Stateline that more crops could test hot under the proposed rule. "In Maine, for instance, none of the more than 2,000 acres tested last year were considered hot. But under the USDA’s more stringent testing standards, more than a fourth of the crop would have failed, according to State Horticulturalist Gary Fish," Quinton and Simpson report.

An interim USDA rule goes into effect Nov. 1, but the final rule may not be issued until after the 2021 growing season, which gives state officials more time to lobby for a change. In the meantime, states like Kentucky and Vermont that had pilot programs can extend those programs (and their testing standards) through this growing season. But at least 30 states will have to adapt their rules to match the stricter USDA standards right away, Quinton and Simpson report.