FBI agents received specific guidance prohibiting them investing in marijuana companies—but not necessarily those that make hemp or CBD products—according to a 2022 memo that the agency released last week for reasons that are unclear.
The allowance for hemp investments and work contains an exception blocking involvement with companies whose packaging “promotes marijuana”—including any depiction of a cannabis leaf, however.
The now-unclassified policy directive also details restrictions for agents who work or volunteer outside their roles at FBI, stipulating that they could not take employment opportunities “with any company cultivating, processing, or distributing marijuana, regardless of the legal status of marijuana under local, state, tribal or foreign law.”
For both the investment and employment guidance, there are carve-outs—with certain caveats—for products and businesses that deal with hemp or the non-intoxicating cannabinoid CBD, which were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill during President Donald Trump’s first term.
The document states that FBI workers can “invest, without restriction, in companies that maintain a financial interest in the CBD industry” unless that interest involves CBD products containing more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight, which is how federal law currently distinguishes between illegal marijuana and legal hemp. Agents also can’t invest
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