The hemp industry is fighting the DEA again for its right to sell hemp products, including CBD. The Drug Enforcement Agency and US Attorney Generals have spent considerable resources on hemp farmers, state hemp projects, even attacking, raiding and destroying hemp crops in Native American tribal land. Members of congress have joined in the lawsuit against the DEA.
Does the DEA even know what it is doing? Why did Eric Holder say hemp was schedule 1, prosecute hemp growers his entire tenure, only to retire and say that the laws should be changed?
In Olsen v Holder 2009, some interesting facts about scheduling were reported:
 
DEA Clarifies Status of Hemp in the Federal Register in 2001.
 
Wait, Marijuana is the leaves and flowers and hemp is the stalks and seeds? What?
 
Defining “Industrial Hemp”: A Fact Sheet
The federal Congressional Research Service issued a report March 2017.
 
 
Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity Renée Johnson Specialist in Agricultural Policy March 10, 2017
What about Cannabidiol?
Since the DEA has been attacking Cannabidiol hemp products, some states have been claiming CBD is illegal.
Department of Public Health Position Statement CBD Product Availability in Iowa
 
Nebraska AG issued a memo on Cannabidiol products.
 
Indiana AG issued an opinion of CBD , while the Indiana Governor said stores will have 60 days to destroy or remove CBD products from its stores.
The FDA tested some CBD products and found some products contained no CBD, some contained higher than .3% THC and other products fluctuated with percentages of CBD.
Also, the FDA has stated that because CBD is being investigated as a new drug, it cannot be marketed as a dietary supplement.
The FDA is ignoring history when it says CBD is a "new drug". CBD was an ingredient of Extract of Cannabis, a formulation in the US Pharmacopia dating back to 1851.
 
The fight against hemp, marijuana, cannabis continues.
https://mjbizdaily.com/congress-members-defend-cbd-blast-deas-hemp-decision/
Congress members defend CBD, blast DEA’s hemp decision
Published January 12, 2018 | By Kristen Nichols
In a bold show of support for the hemp industry and CBD, 28 members of Congress are asking a federal appeals court to reject the Drug Enforcement Administration’s argument that cannabidiol is a Schedule 1 drug.
The Congress members filed the brief Thursday in conjunction with a pending lawsuit against the DEA.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments in the case Feb. 15.
The Congress members – 22 Democrats and six Republicans – argue that the DEA is “blatantly contrary” to the 2014 Farm Bill when it argues that CBD is a marijuana extract and therefore illegal.
“The Farm Bill’s definition of industrial hemp includes any part of the plant, including the flower,” the Congress members argue in the brief.
The members conclude that the federal agency’s rule about CBD was an “abuse of DEA’s administrative procedure and rulemaking authority.”
The lawyer who wrote the brief for the Congress members, Steven Cash, told Marijuana Business Daily that Congress members took the extraordinary step of weighing in on the lawsuit in hopes of seeing the courts resolve the conflict between the Farm Bill and the DEA’s interpretation on the Controlled Substances Act.
“Apart from arguing about the relative benefits, flaws and dangers of medical marijuana and hemp, it appears we’re going to solve this (conflict) through traditional avenues, the courts,” Cash said.
The DEA said in late 2016 that because CBD cannot be easily extracted from non-flower parts of the cannabis plant, CBD should be considered a controlled substance. The decision brought a hasty lawsuit from the Hemp Industries Association and a CBD business.
A lawyer for the hemp companies says the brief will show judges that Congress understood what it was doing when it authorized hemp production, meaning not just the stalks and seeds but the whole plant.
“Congress has spoken, yet again,” Bob Hoban said in a statement. “The industrial hemp industry has seen exponential growth … and this case represents the most significant challenge the U.S. hemp industry has seen to date.”