USDA Gives Colorado Cannabis Farm First Approval to Use Organic Seal

Got organic cannabis? If you live anywhere near CBDRx, a Longmont, Colorado cannabis farm, you’ll be one of the first to enjoy USDA approved, certified organic, industrial hemp.

In an email correspondence obtained by KUNC, Penelope Zuck, the USDA’s organic program accreditation manager, said:

“As long as the industrial hemp is grown according to the Farm Bill, it can be certified organic to the USDA National Organic Program.”

This means that a hemp farm, only recently given legal authority to grow after more than a hundred years of propaganda, can now market with the USDA’s organic seal.

Hemp is still considered illegal under federal law, but a federal agency has given a Colorado farm their blessing to grow hemp organically. Interesting times, aren’t they folks?

Just last year, Zuck even wrote, “Marijuana may not be certified organic under the USDA organic regulations.”

Though hemp is not the same as marijuana since it is not hallucinogenic, it has long been lumped into the same category. Due to the recent Farm Bill that passed, some varieties of cannabis, colloquially known as “hemp,” are federally recognized as legitimate crops as long as they’re below a certain THC threshold.

As KUNC points out “a lack of nuance in the Controlled Substances Act means “cannabis” — hemp included — still remains an illegal drug, with no redeemable value and a high level of abuse. The Farm Bill’s language even acknowledged the conflict [.pdf], where lawmakers nodded to the plant’s status under the CSA but effectively ignored it.”

Other growers in Colorado have claimed that they are organic, but without the certification or proof. “We at CBDRx decided to challenge the norm and request USDA certification for our hemp. And through some true passionate efforts we succeeded,” said Tim Gordon, a member of the CBDRx research team. The company’s certification was completed by OneCert, a Nebraska-based third party auditing firm.

Ironically, CBDRx’s organic certification means that while one arm of the federal government, the Drug Enforcement Administration, still considers cannabis a schedule I drug, the USDA is ready to swoop in and give organic certification, “just as long as the crops are grown with organic standards” put forth by the agency.

Additional Sources:

Civil Eats