Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-07-22)

1

Cannabis

B U S I N E S S

The Real

Cannabis

16

Edited by

James E. Ellis and

Craig Giammona

● Forget weed. The big winner

of the cannabis craze is hemp

and the CBD trove it’s unlocking

Mention legal cannabis, and many people think

of the weed stores that have sprung up in Boston,

Denver, Seattle, and other major U.S. cities. Inside,

infused brownies and vape pens are sold next to

branded joints and neatly packaged bags of mari­

juana presented in a way that wouldn’t be out of

place in any American mall. In Canada you can

even order pot through the mail, and some of the

world’s alcohol giants have set up shop there to

develop weed beer.

But the business of getting people high is only

part of the cannabis craze. Marijuana is still banned

Bloomberg Businessweek July 22, 2019

for recreational use across much of the world, and

even medical access, while expanding, is restricted

inmostcountries.Soplayersinthe$340billion

globalcannabismarketareturningtheirattention

toweed’sless­regulated cousin, hemp.

Hemp is a strain of cannabis whose fibers have

traditionally been used in textiles and rope, and

farmers can grow it even in countries with strict

drug laws because it has different properties from

marijuana. Most important to law enforcement offi­

cials, it’s low in THC, the compound that gets you

stoned. But businesses are buzzed about its other

defining characteristic: a higher concentration of

cannibidiol, or CBD, a nonpsychoactive chemical

atthecenterofa wellnesstrendsweepingtheU.S.

andexpandingworldwide.

CBDisbeingpitchedasanall­natural way to

alleviate ailments including pain, inflammation,