[ad_1]
Rhode Island's fourth annual cannabis convention highlights a growing industry around the CBD, the medicinal component of hemp and marijuana that does not produce a "high".
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Ben Morgan-Dillon, 28, of Rehoboth, went to school to become a nurse anesthetist in hopes of earning a quarter of a million dollars a year.
Eight months ago, his life goals took a radical turn. He created a home-based company, Acadia Farms, selling products containing CBD – a medicinal component extracted from plants containing hemp and marijuana that does not produce a "high" effect.
Five years ago, Chris Copley, 54, of Burlington, Vermont, sold snowboards. Then he also joined the "Gold Rush" by selling gels, oils and patches infused with CBD and made from Colorado hemp.
"Hemp explodes," Copley said Saturday in front of his booth at Rhode Island's fourth annual convention on cannabis in the Rhode Island Convention Center. "Hemp and CBD, they explode."
For those who have not paid as much attention as investors to recent developments in the cannabis sector, consider:
During the summer, the US government approved the first CBD drug for the treatment of seizures.
The Congress plans to legalize hemp cultivation nationwide. Hemp differs from cousin marijuana in that it contains very low concentrations of THC, a component altering the mind.
The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration recently announced that it would no longer consider products containing less than 0.03% THC as a controlled substance – great news for investors in hemp.
And Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch are considering entering the CBD-based drinks market.
Meanwhile, recreational pottery stores are about to open in Massachusetts. Maine legalized the pot in 2016 and Canada approved the pot of leisure at the national level last week.
All developments show an indisputable fact, said Marc Shepard, co-founder of the New England Cannabis Network, which sponsors the convention this weekend: "This is serious business."
Rhode Island alone, he says, is at the threshold of a billion dollar cannabis industry, bolstered by more than 10 years of experience with many producers of marijuana for medical purposes and affiliated companies.
"It's the tip of the iceberg," Shepard said. In Rhode Island, "we already have hundreds of businesses in operation" because of the legal marijuana market for medical purposes "and the [recreational and hemp] The markets have not even opened yet. "
Morgan-Dillon stated that he had decided to sell CBD-based products instead of pursuing a career in the medical field after finding that his sick father was taking advantage of the use of CBD.
He is "100% sure" that his CBD project will take off.
"I will be able to do everything I've always dreamed of," he said.
There were all sorts of CBD products to try at the convention, with vendors like Morgan-Dillon and Copley discussing it for just about everything that hurt you, from mental illnesses to arthritis. .
Shepard, whose cannabis group sponsored the show, said that he had first checked with marijuana regulators in Rhode Island to make sure that sales of CBD products would be permitted. He stated that the state had approved it, provided that all products meet the federal criterion, namely 0.03 THC.
He added that a state inspector would visit the salon to take samples.
Copley said there may soon be a time when pharmaceutical companies and big companies would enter the hemp market and swallow small investors and small businesses. "But for the moment, we are in a window of glory."
[ad_2]
Source link
