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“The passing of the Farm Bill made things attractive down south. I wouldn’t say we’re behind in Canada, but it’s strange that we’re not ahead of them with hemp, despite having legalized cannabis,” said Ivan Ross-Vrana, National Director at Hill & Knowlton Strategies’ cannabis practice, and one of the country’s top cannabis lobbyists.

In Canada, as it stands, CBD and its psychoactive cousin, the more potent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), are regulated in the identical way: Both are legal under the Cannabis Act for medical and recreational use.

That means CBD derived from the hemp plant — widely seen as a cheaper source of the compound — also falls under the jurisdiction of Health Canada and the Cannabis Act, which effectively means that it can only be extracted by a licensed cannabis producer, and only available in flower or non-concentrated oil to be sold by licensed private or provincial retailers.

Photo by Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg

“For hemp farmers, I know a big question to them is, ‘Why do we have to go through the Cannabis Act for extracting CBD from hemp, why can’t we have a separate hemp processing stream?’” Ross-Vrana said.

“Well, then you’ll have Health Canada saying we have to make sure the processing of CBD is consistent across the board. And that’s a fair argument, but to hemp producers, they’re going to then ask, ‘Well, how long will it now take us to get a cannabis license?’” he explained.

It’s yet another hurdle for hemp producers, who for decades have had to wrestle with the stigma of growing a plant tainted by its association with cannabis, even though hemp has only trace amounts of THC.