{"id":8732,"date":"2019-03-30T03:32:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T03:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3404445"},"modified":"2019-03-30T03:32:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T03:32:09","slug":"hemp-entrepreneurs-hear-the-benefits-and-challenges-of-booming-industry-at-colorado-expo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/hemp-entrepreneurs-hear-the-benefits-and-challenges-of-booming-industry-at-colorado-expo\/","title":{"rendered":"Hemp entrepreneurs hear the benefits \u2014 and challenges \u2014 of booming industry at Colorado expo"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/hemp-entrepreneurs-hear-the-benefits-and-challenges-of-booming-industry-at-colorado-expo\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>The head of an international natural products association told a crowded room of hemp entrepreneurs Friday that their industry is forecast to generate as much as $45 billion by 2024 \u2014 but big questions and regulatory hurdles loom.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3404831\" class=\"wp-caption alignright size-article_inline_half\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/hemp-entrepreneurs-hear-the-benefits-and-challenges-of-booming-industry-at-colorado-expo.jpg\" width=\"640\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/hemp-entrepreneurs-hear-the-benefits-and-challenges-of-booming-industry-at-colorado-expo.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/hemp-entrepreneurs-hear-the-benefits-and-challenges-of-booming-industry-at-colorado-expo.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Polis-Hemp-1.jpg?fit=310%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 310w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Judith Kohler, The Denver Post<\/p>\n<p>Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, left, and Loren Israelsen, president of the United Natural Products Alliance, were among the speakers at the sixth annual NoCo Hemp Expo on Friday, March 29, 2019, in Denver.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Loren Israelsen, president of the United Natural Products Alliance, told people at the sixth annual NoCo Hemp Expo in Denver that the fledgling but expanding industry is in a similar position as the natural products industry was about three decades ago. That\u2019s when Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, providing a path forward for businesses.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/12\/13\/colorado-hemp-farm-bill-impacts\/\">2018 federal farm bill<\/a> legalized the production of hemp, removing it from the list of controlled substances and placing it under the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is your big moment. This created a lawful pathway,\u201d Israelsen said. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t solve all the problems you\u2019re facing now. You\u2019re facing this really important moment of, \u2018Now, what do we do?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some of the questions stem from the fact that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2019\/01\/04\/fort-collins-hemp-business-facebook-shutdown\/\">the FDA<\/a> last year approved cannabidiol oil \u2014 CBD \u2014 derived from marijuana for the treatment of two rare forms of epilepsy. Part of what the FDA is considering as it develops regulations for hemp is how to treat CBD oil extracted from hemp.<\/p>\n<p>Hemp and marijuana are in the cannabis family. However, hemp has negligible amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that creates a high.<\/p>\n<p>The farm bill caps the amount of THC allowed in industrial hemp to 0.3 percent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the single most pressing issue is to try to get a resolution of what is the regulatory status, generally, for CBD so the FDA can decide how do we proceed to protect the consumer, protect the drug approval process, but also not deny the consumer access to a product that they feel is important and useful,\u201d Israelsen said.<\/p>\n<p>Chase Terwilliger, CEO of Denver-based CBDistillery, an online retailer, acknowledged the challenges ahead as federal officials wrestle with how to regulate hemp. But the farm bill was a huge milestone, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPassage of the farm bill was the biggest boulder we had to break through, to take hemp off the controlled substances list,\u201d Terwilliger said.<\/p>\n<p>CBDistillery is continuing development of processes to ensure the safety and quality of its products, including the use of an outside auditor to track any concerns or problems with the products, Terwilliger said.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Jared Polis, who championed the hemp industry when he was in Congress, joined Israelsen on stage at the expo, which was a sell-out at 10,000-plus registrations. Polis called Colorado \u201cthe epicenter of industrial hemp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the No. 1 state in the union for hemp production,\u201d Polis said. \u201cOur state agencies understand the industry. We have the most talented and knowledgeable hemp workers. We have the most stable and effective regulatory framework in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Colorado got <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/11\/20\/hemp-taking-off-as-viable-product-and-colorado-entrepreneurs-at-the-forefront-of-industry\/\">a head start<\/a> on growing and processing hemp when voters approved legalizing marijuana and hemp.\u00a0The 2014 federal farm bill opened the door to the legal growth of hemp, allowing cultivation for research purposes and allowing states to permit \u201cpilot programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although Colorado has been ahead of the curve, Polis said the state will need to focus on maintaining its status as a leader as other states start and expand their hemp industries.<\/p>\n<p>Large retailers, including Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy, and alcohol, food and beverage companies already are looking to get into the market, Israelsen said. Hemp has thousands of useful benefits, he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHelping to grow the industrial hemp industry is really a focus of our administration,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>The head of an international natural products association told a crowded room of hemp entrepreneurs in Denver Friday that their industry is forecast to generate as much as $45 billion by 2024 &#8212; but big questions and regulatory hurdles loom. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,531,52,330,7153,55,7618,854,6813,77,5577,9,6882,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[5063,3105,2632,2908,7155,2635,7619,3427,6818,2655,5580,6883,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}