The passing of the 2018 United States Farm Bill, at the end of last year, made hemp nationally legal. So, what exactly does this mean for CBD skincare products?
What does the Farm Bill do for hemp?
For the first time since The Controlled Substances Act classified hemp as an illegal Schedule 1 drug in 1970, it has now been reclassified and hemp is now treated as an agricultural commodity. **This doesn’t mean that marijuana is legal now!**
In fact, the farm bill does an excellent job of accurately defining what is legal and what isn’t when it comes to cannabis, hemp, and marijuana. To be clear, cannabis is the all-incorporating family of both hemp and marijuana. Cannabis in general contains many cannabinoids such as the two most popular ones: Cannabidiol (CBD) which we use in our skincare products, and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in cannabis that produces the “high.” Hemp contains very little THC, .3% or less and needs to in order to be classified accordingly. Some marijuana variations can exceed over 20% THC! Hemp on the other hand contains high levels of CBD and other cannabinoids, that with more and more research are showing tremendous potential.
Why is this a good thing?
We’ll get into the CBD skincare aspect of this in a minute, but let’s take time to think about this on a broader scale. The uses of hemp have been long talked about during the prohibition of cannabis and with hemp now being an agricultural commodity, we should start to see some of these ideas brought to light. Just a FEW of the many uses of industrial hempinclude:
- Paper
- Hempcrete (concrete alternative)
- Beer and Milk
- Clothing
- Car Parts
- Wood
- Fuel
It has been said that hemp can be used to build an entire house from scratch except for the windows. AND to make this all even better, hemp as a crop is much easier to grow than many crops, easier to yield the amounts needed, and is more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
What does this mean for CBD skincare products?
As far as CBD and CBD infused skincare products are concerned, this is great news! Since the CBD in our skincare products comes from the hemp plant, the Farm Bill makes all of our pure hemp oil extract products legal nationwide. This will surely help with CBD becoming more available to the masses as banks, logistics providers, payment processor etc. start to view CBD businesses as less of a risk. This also means that more players will be entering the market. It is essential now more than ever to know where your CBD and the hemp used to create it are coming from. NOT ALL HEMP IS CREATED EQUAL. Below is a photo from the hemp farm we use to source our 100% USDA-certified organic hemp:
Is there still a gray area?
Yes and no. When looked at from the perspective that the Farm Bill reclassifies hemp as a legal agricultural commodity, it seems as if there should be no problem or confusion since the hemp itself is legal. How someone chooses to use a legal product is completely up to them. From the other perspective, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which the bill impacts, doesn’t have any implications on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the regulatory body that oversees the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. This leads to a gray area when it comes to hemp-derived CBD products designed to be ingested or used topically. Regardless of the viewpoint you choose to accept, one thing is for sure… the prohibition of hemp has come to an end!
Want to give one of our 100% USDA-certified organic hemp CBD skincare products a try? Click below to visit our online store! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive a coupon code for 15% off your first purchase!
