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It has popped up on convenience store shelves, as a pricey add-on at trendy coffee and smoothie places, and as a purported cure-all pitched by social media influencers. But the legality of CBD is murky and hemp farmers say new state guidelines will effectively kneecap their industry in Massachusetts.CBD, or cannabidiol, is derived from the cannabis plant and is commonly extracted from hemp. The non-psychoactive component is said to deliver therapeutic benefits like calming anxiety without impairing the user. CBD products are not directly regulated by the state and many local health and police departments do not take action against retailers. CBD products are widely available online.But now the opportunity to grow hemp and process it into CBD products could be closing in Massachusetts. The Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR), which regulates the growing of hemp, this month issued guidance that effectively outlawed the sale of food products containing CBD, any product containing CBD that makes therapeutic claims, any product with hemp as a dietary supplement and any animal feed with hemp products.On Monday afternoon, a recently-formed coalition of Massachusetts hemp farmers, businesses, advocates and consumers rallied outside the State House to call on MDAR to clarify its guidance and to push for the state to clear up the legality of their products.Julia Agron, a hemp farmer and organizer of the Mass. Hemp Coalition, told the crowd about the process she and her family went through to get an MDAR license to grow and process hemp, only to then find out that MDAR's new guidance effectively made her plans illegal."We were going to make tinctures, we were going to make infused edible products, we were going to infuse directly into coconut oil, we were going to make topicals -- the whole range of it. That artisinal product is what we feel we have to offer," Agron said. "Within two months of getting our license approved, I happened to get an email from MDAR basically saying that every single product that we need to be able to sell in order for our farm to grow and succeed was suddenly off the table."The MDAR guidance came on the heels of an opinion from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that CBD cannot be added to food and dietary supplements, and state Department of Public Health guidance also prohibiting the sale of any product containing CBD oils derived from hemp.A variety of products made from hemp -- hemp seed, protein, clothing and other items made from hemp fiber -- are approved for sale in Massachusetts.On Monday, CBD supporters decried what they said is the unfair treatment of the hemp-based product by a state that licenses stores to sell products infused with THC, the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant."An absurd dichotomy exists in the state today where you can legally produce and sell cannabis consumables, but you cannot legally produce and sell hemp consumables," Jim Borghesani, who served as spokesman of the 2016 ballot initiative that legalized marijuana, said.Borghesani said he wanted to remind Gov. Charlie Baker, who oversees MDAR, that about 54 percent of Massachusetts voters were in favor of legal access to marijuana products and "probably a lot more want access to hemp consumables."And because it is up to local officials to police what's offered behind the counter at corner stores, where CBD products have become commonplace alongside tobacco and rolling papers, hemp supporters said MDAR's guidance is only going to harm the local small hemp farmers who hoped to sell CBD products in order to turn a profit."Out of state farms aren't affected by this, people selling on the internet aren't affected by this. I still drove by every single gas station between here and Amherst selling me dubious a CBD product that isn't tested and isn't regulated," Agron said.The topic of hemp and hemp products is not totally foreign to the state Legislature. Last week, the House voted unanimously to allow farmers with agricultural deed restrictions on their land to grow hemp, pitched by supporters as a boon to many farmers in rural parts of the state that own 73,000 acres currently under agricultural restrictions.Agron said Monday that she previously thought getting the state Legislature on board with a policy change that would benefit the growing hemp industry was going to be her biggest public policy concern. After MDAR's guidance, she said the industry faces a more existential threat."Our legislators empowered hemp farmers to farm hemp on farmable land, which seems like such a win and two and a half weeks ago it was my biggest goal for the hemp industry in Massachusetts and suddenly I don't know if it matters anymore," she said. "None of the farmers that I'm talking to are looking to expand right now. They're not sure if there's a market for their product, they're not sure if they're going to be farming next year at all."Rep. David Rogers, House chairman of the Cannabis Policy Committee, told the News Service after last week's House session on hemp that he intends to look closely at the MDAR and DPH guidelines and did not foreclosure the possibility of recommending further action to open up the market for additional hemp products."There's a possibility in the future that the House will address, if need be, the new restrictions on CBD oil," he said.