The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved industrial hemp licensing plans for Ohio, Louisiana and New Jersey.
The states are the first to get such approval, although 34 other states launched hemp research or pilot projects under a 2014 law. The federal government legalized hemp last year. Hemp is related to and looks like marijuana but contains only traces of THC, the chemical in marijuana that gets people high. Hemp fiber and seeds are used to produce textiles, rope, paper, cosmetics, fuel, and CBD, among other things.
