Centuries after American colonists were required by law to grow hemp, and decades after it was then outlawed by Congress, one of the nation’s oldest and most versatile crops is poised for a resurgence. The 2018 Farm Bill, formally titled the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, codifies a distinction between hemp and marijuana and removes hemp from the ambit of the Controlled Substances Act.

A brief vocabulary lesson may be a helpful starting point to understand the impact of the 2018 Farm Bill. Marijuana and hemp are different strains of the Cannabis sativa L plant. The 2018 Farm Bill defines hemp as any part of the Cannabis sativa L plant. This includes all derivatives and extracts such as cannabidiol, provided that the plant contains less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, and generally allows its commercial production, distribution and sale for the first time by specifically excluding hemp from the definition of marijuana and effectively descheduling hemp under the Controlled Substances Act. Any Cannabis sativa L plant or derivative from such a plant with a higher THC level is considered marijuana, which remains a Schedule I substance—the most stringently regulated category of narcotics—under the Controlled Substances Act. Because THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that produces the feeling of being “high,” a critical difference between marijuana and hemp is that hemp will not produce a “high.” Millennia of experience, however, shows hemp’s impressive versatility. The crop is used to make clothes, food and building materials. And the modern economy shows a tremendous potential market for hemp-derived CBD health and wellness products.