Oversupply and a lack of federal rules led to trouble for the industry.

Hemp has friends in high places, namely Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But the crop he championed in an attempt to boost ailing agriculture is at a low point.

Farmers and manufacturers who wanted to capitalize on the frenzy around CBD, which comes from hemp, were lured into the industry after Congress passed the 2018 farm bill. It legalized cultivation of the crop, a low-potency sibling of marijuana. Hemp acreage in the U.S. more than tripled from 2018 to 2019. McConnell was a driving force behind legalization.

“It was a mad rush,” said Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Kate Greenberg.

But the boom has quickly turned into a bust.

In recent months, several CBD businesses declared bankruptcy — including GenCanna, a hemp processing facility in Winchester, Ky., that McConnell visited in April of last year.

“I hope that hemp will be for us some day what tobacco was at its peak,” McConnell told the crowd.

But his hope has so far failed to materialize as the industry struggles on several fronts: The gold rush mentality led to an oversupply, tanking wholesale prices. CBD remains unregulated by the FDA. Consumers are left with conflicting messages about the legality of hemp products while unscrupulous businesses tout CBD as a potential treatment for every illness under the sun, including the coronavirus. [Read More @ Politico]