© 2025 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Hemp Experts Clear The Air On CBD

WFSU | By Blaise Gainey
Published February 14, 2019 at 4:31 PM EST
In this Oct. 5, 2013 file photo, a woman stands in a hemp field at a farm in Springfield, Colo. On Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, a hearing was held at the State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., on a bill that would open the market to grow and harvest hemp in Nebraska, two months after President Donald Trump signed a law to legalize hemp.
P. Solomon Banda
/
AP Photo
In this Oct. 5, 2013 file photo, a woman stands in a hemp field at a farm in Springfield, Colo. On Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, a hearing was held at the State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., on a bill that would open the market to grow and harvest hemp in Nebraska, two months after President Donald Trump signed a law to legalize hemp.
In this Oct. 5, 2013 file photo, a woman stands in a hemp field at a farm in Springfield, Colo. On Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, a hearing was held at the State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., on a bill that would open the market to grow and harvest hemp in Nebraska, two months after President Donald Trump signed a law to legalize hemp.
Credit AP Photo/P. Solomon Banda
/
AP Photo
In this Oct. 5, 2013 file photo, a woman stands in a hemp field at a farm in Springfield, Colo. On Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, a hearing was held at the State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb., on a bill that would open the market to grow and harvest hemp in Nebraska, two months after President Donald Trump signed a law to legalize hemp.

As Florida lawmakers grapple with changes to the state’s medical marijuana rules, others are questioning how hemp fits into the picture. Hemp is a marijuana plant, but is low in THC—meaning it doesn’t get people high. Instead, people say the CBD from the plant can have significant health benefits. But the two products come plants that look and smell the same—making regulation and enforcement difficult and leaving hemp use and sales in something of a legal grey area.

Listen below as cannabis legal expert Michael Minardi and Alex Petrick who manages Natural Life, a shop in Tallahassee that sells CBD products speak on the subject.

Copyright 2020 WFSU. To see more, visit WFSU.

Tags
HempGovernmentBusinessLocalMedical Marijuana
Blaise Gainey
Blaise Gainey is a Multimedia Reporter for WFSU News. Blaise hails from Windermere, Florida. He graduated from The School of Journalism at the Florida A&M University. He formerly worked for The Florida Channel, WTXL-TV, and before graduating interned with WFSU News. He is excited to return to the newsroom. In his spare time he enjoys watching sports, Netflix, outdoor activities and anything involving his daughter.
See stories by Blaise Gainey