SPRINGFIELD, Neb. (KOLN) – LB 316, a bill to redefine what hemp is in Nebraska, is causing concern among growers and business owners who use the plant to create natural CBD products.
“That would pretty much bankrupt our business and we wouldn’t be able to sell any of the products we currently have.” said Stephen Arcishewsky, master grower at 402 Organics.
In 2019, then-Governor Pete Ricketts signed the Nebraska Hemp Farming Act which defined hemp the same way the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill does: the plant cannabis sativa L. and any part of it with a THC concentration of .3% on a dry weight basis.
The current bill would keep that language, but add a definition for processed hemp, like CBD products.
It states for processed hemp, a product cannot have more than a total THC concentration of .3% on a total weight basis or 10mg of total THC per package.
“Our pain cream for example is a 3000mg pain cream so that would have about 1-200mg of THC,” said Arcishewsky.
That’s because you can’t get around the fact that CBD contains small amounts of THC, so when you have more CBD you end up with more THC as well.
“It just breaks my heart we have a lot of people that really, really love our products and have had a transformative experience with them and I don’t think there is any way around it,” said Taylor Bradish, 402 Organics.
It would also prohibit cannabinoids created through chemical conversion, modification, or synthesis.
“To extract CBD from the plant there is processing that happens so that would prohibit any processing of CBD,” said Sarah Linden, CEO of Generation V.
Attorney General Mike Hilgers has been fighting vape shop companies that sell synthetic THC products like Delta-8. Hemp product manufacturers and growers aren’t opposed to regulation on the industry, but they say this bill goes far beyond that.
“And now Nebraska is going to be the strictest state in the country on CBD and hemp products,” said Linden.
The bill is on final reading, and according to Speaker John Arch, it will be on the agenda Friday. It is scheduled as the last item.
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LB 316, a bill to redefine what hemp is in Nebraska, is causing concern among growers and business owners who use the plant to create natural CBD products. Read More
