The 2018 Farm Bill cleared the pathway for legal cultivation of industrial hemp in the U.S. Botanically, non-psychoactive industrial hemp and psychoactive cannabis are identical, classified as Cannabis sativa. However, plant breeders have selectively bred the varieties now referred to as “industrial hemp” to have levels of the psychoactive cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) below the federally mandated threshold of 0.3 percent and often higher levels of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD). Conversely, plant breeders have bred the varieties commonly referred to as “cannabis” to have higher levels of psychoactive THC.
At the end of the day, though, all of these plants are cannabis, with key points of differentiation based on their constituent cannabinoid contents.