The 2018 Farm Bill entirely changed how the United States legal system treated cannabis/hemp.
To keep things simple, it made:
- Anything other than THC (CBD, CBG, CBC, etc.) from the cannabis plant federally legal
- Cannabis that contains more than 0.3% THC federally illegal
Cannabis contains several cannabinoids. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is only one of them.
THC is the least medically beneficial part of cannabis, but of course, it’s what makes it fun to consume.
However, if you’ve ever been to a dispensary what you’ll notice is on the container of cannabis it’ll list something like the following (cannabinoid content varies — depending on the strain and genetics):
- THCa 20%
- THC 0.50%
- CBDa 1%
- CBD 0%
- CBG 0%
- CBGA 0%
When you heat and combust THCa (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid), through decarboxylation, it’s converted into THC at a rate of approximately 88%.
You’ll also notice dispensaries take the liberty of automatically converting the THCa into THC and then adding it to the natural THC% — they always use wording like “total THC”.
What I’m telling you here is THCa is practically identical to THC, yet Trump technically made it legal through the Farm Bill.
The same cannabis you’d buy from a dispensary primarily stores THC content in the form of THCa — they just don’t care about the magic number of 0.3% THC — often it’s numbers like 0.5, 0.6%, etc, but nonetheless, the primary THC content is stored in the form of THCa.
Basically, through specific breeding genetics, knowledge, and a little bit of grey-area trickery, these hemp growers are able to now sell and deliver legal hemp much better than you got back in high school to every state in the United States.
How Do THCa and CBD Brands Work and Operate?
There are actually quite a few brands surfacing around THCa and CBD — most of them being in cannabis-friendly states like Washington, California, and beyond.
For example, Dr. Ganja is a huge California-based THCa and CBD brand:
You can get bud, shatter, wax, edibles, literally anything you could get from a dispensary — and it’s all federally legal.
Most of these brands are simply running on solutions like WooCommerce — partially because solutions like Shopify are known for kicking even CBD brands off their platform, despite the fact this is totally all federally legal.
That being said, it seems like a reoccurring issue for these THCa and CBD brands to simply host their infrastructure in the United States, again, despite the fact this is legal. It shouldn’t be like that.
Luckily, if you’re in the hemp business, I have good news for you…
Over here at LowEndBox and LowEndTalk we have a rolodex of about a million providers capable of hosting just about anything.
So, I reached out to a couple of them to put together a top 5 list of the best hosting companies to use for your THCa and CBD brands. Let’s dive in.
The Top 5 Hosting Companies for THCa and CBD Brands
1) BuyVM
BuyVM.net is a well-known VPS hosting provider that operates a “law of the land” approach.
It was founded by Francisco Dias, who has years of experience under his belt by this point.
Speaking of Francisco, he directly told me THCa and CBD brands are allowed in their Las Vegas location.
That location is based out of FiberHub, which is owned by Rob Tyree, an active member of the Nevada Republican Party.
When it comes to keeping your websites online and not de-platformed, it’s important you do your research up the chain. Find out who those upstreams are.
Ultimately, Francisco would have no power to keep you online if Rob didn’t want you online. Politics matter for controversial sites.
That said, going based on Francisco and Rob’s views on cannabis, I think it’s a safe bet your brand will be at home here without being de-platformed.
2) IncogNET
IncogNET is a relatively new hosting company founded by Curtis Mann, focused on providing privacy-centric and censorship-resistant solutions.
The only location they own their own gear in as far as I’m aware is Kansas City, but I’d probably recommend their Washington location that uses Crunchbits as an upstream provider.
When I asked Curtis his specific policy on THCa and CBD brands, here’s what he told me:
Yep, as long as it’s Farm Bill compliant product being sold or other legal product and website owner can prove it’s a legit business if asked. So companies like Arete, 3Chi, FlowGardens, etc would all be good to go.
THCa / CBD products are legal in the US so we’re fine with it so long as the business owner is complying with whatever regulations they need to on their end.
It’s actually an industry that we’re working towards catering to more. I’ve got a list of vendors I’ve compiled from places like /r/hempflowers and /r/cultofthefranklin (high THCa) and who they’re hosting with, what platform they use to publish their site, etc.
3) FiberState
FiberState is a certified classic here in the LowEndUniverse. They own their entire data center, which is exactly what you want — a direct relationship with the people involved.
The fewer upstream providers the better.
They’re located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and personally told me it’s perfectly fine to host your THCa or CBA brand on their infrastructure — providing it continues to remain federally legal.
4) DataWagon
DataWagon has been around the LowEndUniverse for quite a while.
Their primary locations are based in Buffalo, NY, and Chicago, IL — in this case, I’d recommend their Buffalo, NY location.
They’ve personally let me know it’s fine to host THCa and CBA brands on their infrastructure.
Their latest (it’s an incredible value) offer is available on LowEndTalk here.
5) Data Ideas
Data Ideas is a full-service infrastructure provider founded by Josh Roberts based out of The Woodlands, Texas (Houston).
They provide colocation, dedicated, VPS — or really, whatever you need.
Perhaps you could even host it on one of Josh’s dirt cheap Raspberry Pis available for rent.
Providing THCa and CBD remains federally legal, your site is safe over at Data Ideas.
It’s a Wonderful Time To Be Alive
While progress on many core societal issues in the United States has paused since the 1970s, at least cannabis legislation is finally starting to receive some attention.
Thanks to Trump, many people now have access to clean hemp (regulated, no pesticides, no heavy metals, etc.) that can provide many medicinal benefits to people who need it.
Rather than going for Xanax, Opiods, or beyond, regular everyday people now have an alternative solution for a less harmful medicine — of course, providing these hemp businesses are allowed to run their legal businesses.
Here’s to the federal government not putting people in prison for harmlessly consuming a naturally growing plant.
IMPORTANT LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Before using any of these THCa or CBD services, you should contact a local attorney who better understands your local laws. You should assume even if you purchase straight CBD cannabis without any THC content at all that a local law enforcement agent will not believe you that it’s legal. It doesn’t matter if you had a lab test and directly showed them the farm bill, they will likely still charge you for possession, leaving you on the hook to spend thousands on a lawyer to prove your innocence. That’s how the United States works. LowEndBox is not responsible for anything that happens from you buying, hosting, or selling THCa or CBD products.
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