The Future of Seeds
HOW ACCESS TO RETAIL WILL AFFECT THE SEED GAME
By Colin Gordon & Ben Owens
The landscape of seeds as we know it is going to change so dramatically it will be almost unrecognizable.
In January 2022, Terrence L. Boos, Ph.D., Chief of the DEA’s Drug & Chemical Evaluation Section penned a letter clarifying that all parts of the cannabis plant are legal so long as they contain less than 0.3% THC.1
‘The term “hemp” is “the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”’
The DEA letter went on to state that, in addition to seeds, “tissue culture and any other genetic material that has a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis meets the definition of “hemp” and thus is not controlled under the CSA.”1
In short, all parts of the cannabis plant that contain less than 0.3% THC are not considered controlled substances, and are unregulated (“legal”).
Since this clarification, some of the nation’s biggest distributors of consumer goods are starting to look at the different potentials of offering cannabis seeds as a product. But what’s most important is not what these distributors are trying to do—it’s the fact that there’s a new retail movement emerging.