Maine orders stores to remove edibles containing CBD

In Maine, CBD-containing products can only be sold if they can be smoked, vaped, worn as a patch or applied as a lotion—edible CBD products are officially a no-go. Environmental health inspectors in the state informed storeowners that they would have to remove all foods, tinctures and capsules containing the compound from shelves effective immediately. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services stated as a motive that federal authorities have not yet deemed CBD as safe to ingest. Read more at WBUR …

DoorDash partners with food stamp startup mRelief

In order to help low-wage federal workers recover from the financial damage that the 35-day partial shutdown inflicted, DoorDash has teamed up with mRelief to offer those eligible for food stamps in San Francisco credit on the food delivery app. According to numbers from the USDA, $13 billion in food stamps benefits go unclaimed each year, but because of the shutdown many low-wage workers are now eligible to claim these benefits. mRelief has launched an end-to-end process for qualified applicants to enroll in San Francisco’s food stamp program. Read more at Tech Crunch …

Oregon bottle deposit system hits 90 percent redemption rate

In 2018, Oregon recycled 90 percent—that’s 2 billion units—of the beverage containers covered by its bottle deposit system. This jump was surprising to many because of China’s newly implemented restrictions on recyclable material shipments, which has left many recycling operations stateside floundering in the face of a greatly reduced market for recyclable material. Joel Shoening of the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative argues that “Because [the cooperative deals] only in glass plastic and aluminum with very few exceptions, we have a very clean recycling product … which makes it easier to sell and recycle domestically. Read more at NPR …

What the US could learn from Slovenia about protecting bees

Honeybees contribute an estimated $15 billion to the U.S. economy, but “pesticides, habitat loss, fast-spreading diseases and mite infestations, as well as colony collapse disorder” have caused American beekeepers to lose roughly 40 percent of their honey bee colonies in a single year. Therefore, honey producers stateside are looking to Slovenia, where the bee population is treated like the precious resource that it is. Government initiatives have included a ban on bee-killing pesticides, free medication and treatment for sick hives and full refunds for hives infected with fatal diseases. Read more at Civil Eats …

Bain veteran backs cannabis ‘mini-Amazon’ with CBD beauty fund

Jay Lucas, a former partner at Bain & Co., “has launched a $50 million fund focused on cosmetics and beauty products derived from hemp, a type of cannabis.” The fund’s premier investment was in Standard Dose, an emerging “mini-Amazon” for CBD products. It’s a wise move—the market for both topical and ingested CBD products may outpace the legal marijuana market as soon as 2022. Read more at Bloomberg  …