The Federal Government and Cannabis

The 2018 Farm Bill, enacted more than eight months ago, included a provision that was designed to legalize industrial hemp on a broad scale. However, there are many lingering uncertainties for companies that are moving quickly in the hemp and hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) markets.

The new law builds on the success of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) industrial hemp pilot program that was authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill and predominantly restricted to research universities. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is acting urgently to create a regulatory structure for cannabis-derived products, including those derived from hemp. There is enough of a foundation for companies to aggressively pursue the CBD market if they adhere to existing and evolving regulations and also closely follow case law and enforcement actions by federal and state agencies.

Join Holland & Knight attorneys Taite McDonald and Michael Werner as they provide insights gleaned from conversations with Congress, the FDA and the office at USDA responsible for writing the forthcoming hemp regulations, which will serve as the initial regulations for the market.

Topics include:

• real-time analysis of current USDA and FDA regulations and enforcement activities, including the state of play of the hemp regulatory process at the USDA and FDA
• considerations for companies entering or evaluating the market, including making a case-by-case determination regarding the legality of the anticipated work
• analysis of the Senate Banking Committee's long-awaited July 23 hearing, which should be instructive with regard to the path ahead and timing for federal protections of cannabis banking

We hope you will join us for this highly informative presentation.

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