Four states (Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, and Idaho) prohibit hemp-derived CBD following the recent legalization of hemp at the federal level. On Jan. 24, Idaho State Police busted a truck driver transporting 6,701 pounds of cannabis from Oregon to Colorado. The Idaho State Police say it’s marijuana. The Colorado-based company, Big Sky Scientific, says the shipment is industrial hemp for CBD. Meanwhile, the driver is stuck in limbo, facing a mandatory punishment of at least five years in prison and a minimum fine of $15,000. Marijuana and hemp are different varieties of the same plant, cannabis sativa. While marijuana is cultivated for high THC content, hemp has less than 0.3 percent THC. 

Learn more about the legality of CBD in Nebraska from the cover story of the March/April 2019 edition of Omaha Magazine, “‘CBD Madness’ Sweeps Nebraska.”

Read other Nebraskan perspectives on the medical use of cannabis (from which CBD is derived) in this online exclusive content, “2019 Medical Cannabis Op-Eds: From the Governor, a Colonel, and a Drug Dealer.” 

Additionally, the print edition's editor letter discusses the medical side of CBD. It excerpts an interview with a Nebraska mother whose son takes CBD for severe seizures, “Legal CBD, Medical Cannabis, and in Between.”