Hemp

Despite efforts to develop markets and genetics, Missouri's industrial hemp industry is at its lowest point in years. “Most of the farmers who started with hemp — they lost money,” says a Missouri agricultural economist.

Lincoln University in Missouri is heading a USDA-funded project researching the commodity, but its prohibition created high hurdles for getting the crop off the ground.

Following a lawsuit from the state's hemp industry, Missouri health regulators will stop embargoing products simply because they contain hemp-derived THC. Instead, they'll focus on identifying "misbranded" products.

Military members and their families are especially vulnerable to food insecurity, but Kansas City groups are providing a safety net. Plus: Missouri hemp producers are stuck in confusion after the delay of Gov. Mike Parson's ban on hemp-derived edibles.

Parson says psychoactive hemp-derived edibles are dangerous to children. But Missouri hemp producers say they're trying to run legitimate businesses.

Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order to remove all hemp-derived THC edibles and beverages from store shelves and threatening penalties to any establishment that continues selling them. But industry leaders say the ban goes too far.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft contends that Gov. Mike Parson did not prove that restricting establishments with liquor licenses from selling hemp-derived edibles and drinks was an emergency.

“As best I can tell, you denied this emergency rulemaking because you believe hurt feelings are more important than protecting children,” Gov. Mike Parson wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order this month banning intoxicating hemp products and threatening penalties to any establishment with a Missouri liquor license or that sells food products for selling them. Details of how it will be enforced are still being written.

Fewer farmers are planting hemp across the Midwest and Great Plains. The decline is most acute in hemp grown for its oils, like CBD, but experts say there’s greater opportunity in industrial hemp.

Hemp industry leaders, state marijuana regulators and members of Congress all seem to agree the feds should regulate CBD — but the standoff is over intoxicating hemp products. In Missouri, a company is accused of illegally importing marijuana but insists it actually brought legal, unregulated hemp into the state.

Marijuana manufacturer Delta Extraction has denied accusations that it illegally imported cannabis into Missouri, arguing it actually imported a non-psychoactive hemp product that was converted into THC once in the state. But dispensaries said they had no idea Delta's product was made from hemp.