<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of <i>The Cannabist</i> at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/11/24/boulder-journal-u-s-hemp-sales-500-million-2015/44385/">http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/11/24/boulder-journal-u-s-hemp-sales-500-million-2015/44385/</a></div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------</div><div><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.75em; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.8em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; font-family: Lora, Georgia, Times, serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); text-rendering: optimizelegibility; line-height: 1.25; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">U.S. hemp sales will reach $500 million in 2015</h1><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sales of hemp products will reach $500 million nationwide in 2015, according to a preliminary analysis by the Boulder-based Hemp Business Journal.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That’s up 25 percent over 2014, when Americans bought about $400 million worth of such hemp-based products as clothing, cosmetics and building materials, the majority of which were imported into the U.S.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That’s likely to change with the legalization of hemp farming, which became legal — again, after a 77-year prohibition — in 2014. Three states accounted for the majority of agricultural hemp in 2015: Colorado (leading the way with 2,000 acres in production) Tennessee (1,000 acres) and Kentucky (922 acres).</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">No current system exists to track what the hemp is being grown for, but in Colorado at least, the harvest was “primarily” for the non-psychoactive chemical compound cannabidiol (CBD), according to Sean Murphy, publisher of the Hemp Business Journal.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“That’s the real story — the CBD market,” he said. Consumer sales of CBD-infused products, typically for pain relief or anti-inflammatory medicines, are projected to reach $85 million in 2015.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“A couple of years ago, there was no CBD market,” Murphy said. “(Look) how fast that emerged in a year or two.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">More comprehensive data on CBD sales are still forthcoming, but given the share of U.S. hemp coming from Colorado (51 percent) it’s evident that “Colorado is really driving that,” Murphy said.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some growers have estimated that the growth has been even more explosive.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Industry insiders believe the CBD market is closer to $300 million nationally, said Alexis Korybut, president of Boulder-based CBDRx, a grower and wholesaler of hemp and extracted oils.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“And that’s probably conservative,” he added, conceding that the figure was based on observation and anecdotal evidence rather than hard data. Either way, he thinks the scope of the market is being “vastly underestimated.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/06/17/colorado-hemp-industry/36255/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit;">CBDRx, which operates a 132-acre grow in Pueblo</a> and a research and development facility in Longmont, has seen 20 to 30 percent growth each month, Korybut said, and his clients are experiencing similar gains.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“This business continues to surprise to the upside.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In a pleasant twist, a buyer from the U.K. is in town this week, visiting CBDRx and its competitors to discuss buying Colorado-grown hemp for export to Europe.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; line-height: 1.5; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Most of (the hemp in the U.S.) comes from Europe,” Korybut said, “and this is now Europe looking to the U.S. for quality.”</span></p></div><div>---------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div>LEGALIZE IT! REGULATE IT! TAX IT!</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:F8A114DB-AE5D-493A-96CF-D0C11295D24F" alt="image1.jpeg" id="F8A114DB-AE5D-493A-96CF-D0C11295D24F"><br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div></div></div></div></body></html>