Cannabis reform is coming to Kansas, but there won't be any dispensaries or grow houses opening up in Topeka or Wichita. Instead of a restrictive medical marijuana program or all-out legalization, Kansas has legalized non-psychoactive, hemp-derived CBD products for adult-use across the Sunflower State.
According to local public radio station KMUW, Kansas governor Jeff Colyer signed a piece of legislation allowing access to cannabidiol on Monday, reconciling more than a year of CBD policy confusion in the state.
As marijuana moves further into the mainstream, CBD-based oils, tinctures, topicals, and edibles have emerged as a nationwide trend in both the medical and larger health and wellness communities, lauded for its non-psychoactive treatment of childhood epilepsy, muscle pain, inflammation, and more.
Since CBD can be derived from industrial hemp plants, which are legal to grow under federally-approved university pilot programs, cannabidiol is often sold outside of medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries throughout the country.
But while industrial hemp is a legal crop regulated by the federal government, the DEA still considers CBD products to be Schedule I drugs, just like their THC-based cannabis cousins. This year, those inconsistencies in hemp classification reached a head, with attorney generals throughout prohibition states raiding health food stores to confiscate CBD products. In February, Kansas attorney general Derek Schmidt sent cease and desist letters to Sunflower State CBD sellers.
Now, less than four months since Kansas shop owners were told to take their hemp-derived CBD tinctures and topicals off of shelves, Governor Colyer has signed a bill legalizing the non-psychoactive cannabis products for all Kansas adults, allowing them to purchase CBD without a doctor's prescription or recommendation.
CBD-specific legislation has also been enacted in Indiana, but unlike the Hoosier State, which allows CBD products with up to 0.3% THC, Kansas retailers will only be able to sell products with the cannabinoid if they are completely void of all THC.
With Goveror Colyer's signature submitted Monday, industrial hemp-derived CBD products immediately became legal, with no lag time or regulatory waiting period.
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