This week’s Insider Deals are so good you’ll want all of themShayda Torabi, owner of Restart CBD, inside her store in Austin on May 9. Torabi, along with her two sisters, became curious about the properties of the plant after Torabi had an accident and started using CBD to manage her pain.Austin hemp entrepreneur Shayda Torabi is looking at a year filled with uncertainty.
Because it’s a Patrick priority, it’s likely to come up when lawmakers convene in January for the regular legislative session. Meanwhile, Congress is getting ready to reauthorize the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the Farm Bill, that instituted widespread changes for the hemp industry, including the authorization of the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived products.
The state does not limit the number of dispensary registrations or hemp licenses it allows. Health officials conduct random testing for the presence of heavy metals, pathogens, pesticides, solvents and the concentration of THC. The presence of bad actors who could trigger regulations that drag down legitimate operations not only threaten the very existence of her business if they cause a total ban on her products, Torabi said.
The wellness benefits claimed by purveyors of hemp-derived consumables have been neither endorsed nor refuted by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. Federal drug enforcement officials recently signaled that marijuana, would soon lose its status as a Schedule 1 narcotic — which are drugs that are highly addictive but have no medicinal value — and become eligible for broad research on its medicinal effects.
Critics say that because consumable hemp stores have been allowed to sell their products without stringent testing requirements, age limits or other regulations, they pose a health risk and their extreme growth in numbers has undercut access by the patients who truly need cannabis for health reasons.
Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original, the leading medical cannabis provider in the state, is frustrated that his operation, which his medical marijuana patients depend on for relief from symptoms of cancers and nerve disorders among other ills, is hindered by enormous regulation while businesses like Torabi’s are not.
“You have patients in Texas that have gone through the process in the compassionate use program to get clean, well-tested, well-regulated medicine that is safe. That’s what they’re coming into the program for, and that’s what we’re trying to provide them,” Richardson said.