Hemp farmers in New York are poised to get a boost from new rules allowing medical marijuana companies to use their crops to produce CBD products.
Further, the rules seek to reduce the costs for thousands of medical marijuana patients statewide who use CBD, or cannabidiol, state officials said.
The rules would allow the 10 licensed medical marijuana companies to buy the less expensive hemp and related extracts grown under the state’s Hemp Agricultural Research Pilot Program, which launched in 2015.
Previously, the medical marijuana companies had to rely solely on their own operations to produce CBD, which increased the costs for patients, state officials said.
“Since its launch, the state’s hemp research program has seen tremendous interest from growers and processors, and this new regulation will provide our research partners with another market for their products,” said state Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball.
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