2018 Farm Bill

The 2018 Farm Bill, formally the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, is the federal law that removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and set its legal definition.

It defines hemp as the cannabis plant and any part or derivative of it with no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis. It assigned oversight of hemp production to the U.S. Department of Agriculture through approved state and tribal plans, and it required licensing and crop testing. Cannabis above the threshold remains marijuana under federal law.

The act is the legal basis on which hemp-derived CBD products are grown, processed and sold across state lines. It did not make CBD an approved drug, food ingredient or dietary supplement; the law explicitly preserved the FDA's authority over those categories, and the FDA's position on CBD in foods and supplements remains unresolved. Farm bills are revisited every few years, so the current statute should be checked for any changes to the definition.