During our conversations with companies in the burgeoning hemp market—both textile- and packaging related—there were many references to Mile High Labs as a reliable source of high-quality materials for these products. We touched base with Christopher Lackner, the company’s Vice President of Public Affairs, to get a better understanding of what’s involved in turning industrial hemp products into pure isolates or distillates that can then be used in manufacturing of hemp-related products.

As anyone who is involved in this market would tell you, it’s still really the Wild West in the United States. Marijuana, or cannabis sativa with more than 0.3% THC content (THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, being the psychoactive component of cannabis) is still technically illegal according to federal law but has varying degrees of legality in 33 states. Only 10 states have legalized marijuana for both recreational and medical use. Federally, it is still considered a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance.

Another component extracted from the cannabis sativa plant is cannabidiol, commonly referred to as CBD. According to Lackner, “Hemp and marijuana are actually the same plant, but there are a number of different varietals of that plant—think of a red rose and a white rose with the red rose being hemp and the white rose being marijuana. The ‘red rose’ varietal that has less than 0.3% THC is known as industrial hemp, is legal following the passage of the Farm Bill in 2018, and is the plant from which we source our products.”