The state forensic science lab plans to distribute 15,000 field tests to police departments around Virginia that will help officers distinguish between hemp and marijuana plants, which can appear identical but carry very different legal implications.
“You can’t tell the difference … without some kind of quantitative testing,” said Linda Jackson, who directs the Department of Forensic Science.
The General Assembly passed legislation earlier this year allowing the production and sale of hemp for CBD, a wildly popular but largely untested component of the plant marketed as a remedy for everything from anxiety to seizures.
