CBD bonanza or hemp THC ban? This major hemp company is preparing for both.

This is part of a regular series of MJBizDaily interviews with major THC industry players. To be considered for an interview, contact editorial@mjbizdaily.com.

A tobacco industry veteran might seem an odd fit for a leading CBD company – especially the outfit front and center when President Donald Trump dangled the promise of federal healthcare coverage for cannabis treatments.

But with a sea of bureaucratic acronyms to decipher before subsidized CBD can become what analysts predict is a $4.5 billion revenue stream – plus the minor matter of a looming federal ban on hemp-derived cannabinoid products – Charlotte’s Web CEO Bill Morachnik’s experience in highly regulated spaces could be the difference.

Morachnik joined publicly traded Charlotte’s Web in 2023 after a 10-year stint as president of Santa Fe Reynolds Tobacco International GmbH in Zurich, Switzerland, with a clear mission to turn around a struggling publicly traded company that was losing steam as the CBD boom fizzled out.

“God bless me for showing up at the right time, because this company was designed for this moment that’s finally arrived,” Morachnik told MJBizDaily during a recent interview.

“It’s a massive domino,” he added. “The key now is to not (mess) it up.”

The long road from medical cannabis to Donald Trump’s White House

It’s hard to name a hemp company closer to the action than Charlotte’s Web.

The name honors the Colorado girl whose relief from intractable seizures, gleaned from a CBD-rich cannabis cultivar, contributed to the public support behind the 2010s’ marijuana legalization wave.

On Dec. 18, when Trump signed the historic executive order directing cannabis to be recognized as a medicine – and also promised Medicaid reimbursements for CBD treatments – the certified B Corporation had a physical presence in the Oval Office.

Standing behind the president and top health officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was Paige Figi, Charlotte’s mother.

“Thank God,” Morachnik said. “If anyone should have been standing next to him, I think it was just so appropriate.”

The promise of Medicaid coverage for CBD

Also present was Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS).

It was Oz – while nodding to the prominent CBD advocate who’s been credited with changing Trump’s mind on CBD and cannabis’ medical value – who indicated that seniors on certain Medicaid plans could see coverage by April.

Elusive for years in the U.S. but a given in medical markets like Canada and the U.K., reimbursements for CBD are wholly distinct from marijuana rescheduling.

But mentioning them in the same breath presented some complications.

“No offense to Dr. Oz and the White House, but they were conflating two different things,” Morachnik said. “It caused not a small amount of confusion.”

And while Oz’s promise of $500 reimbursements for certain seniors seeking certain CBD treatments sounded great, there’s a slight catch.

“Here’s what we don’t know yet: What does that mean?” Morachnik said in a recent MJBizDaily interview.

How the federal government could cover CBD – and who could participate

Summed up briefly: There’s a CMMS accountable care organization (ACO) program called ACO Reach that’s set to expire at the end of 2026. Once ACO Reach ends, it’s set to be replaced with another ACO program called LEAD (long-term enhanced ACO design) that will run through the mid-2030s.

In an ACO, a patient is supposed to find cheaper treatment more easily via a voluntary collection of doctors, pharmacies and healthcare providers.

There are about 75 ACOs across the country serving about 1.7 million patients, Morachnik said – a significant potential customer base.

And CBD will be included.

“What we know is that CBD is inclusive of the ACO program, whether it be Reach today or LEAD tomorrow,” Morachnik explained.

“What we don’t know are what are the specifics and who gets to participate.”

Unanswered questions include whether the government will require CBD providers to adhere to certain manufacturing practices or product-quality standards. Also unknown is whether existing ACOs will accept CBD products from Charlotte’s Web – or whether they’ll prefer a competitor. But it’s here that Charlotte’s Web is well ahead, Morachnik said.

“We’ve always been geared and built to deliver at the level that this … program demands,” he said, rattling off Charlotte’s Web’s advantages: in-house good manufacturing practices and certification and participation in U.S. Food and Drug Administration drug-development pathways.

How Charlotte’s Web plans to weather the federal hemp THC ban

But navigating the healthcare bureaucracy isn’t all Charlotte’s Web must worry about in 2026.

There’s also the looming ban on most hemp products set to take effect in November, leaving CBD companies and hemp farmers alike in a state of uncertainty and anxiety.

“In November, does full-spectrum hemp go away? Right now, the way the law stands, it would,” Morachnik said.

“These are the layers of complexity that we’re operating under.”

Like other hemp operators, Charlotte’s Web is hopeful that the ban can be delayed – or, better yet, replaced entirely with coherent and workable regulations.

Regardless, the company has contingency plans to continue operations in any scenario. The major question is the cost.

The new hemp definition limits the amount of THC in any hemp-derived product’s final package to no more than 0.4 milligrams. But a package, Morachnik notes, could be an individual gummy.

“It’s another layer of concerns, layering concerns on top of concerns,” he said. “We have contingency plans to continue to provide access under any scenario.”

“But if this isn’t corrected, then we end up with a bigger mess, and we haven’t solved anything.”

After all, with an estimated 40 million Americans using CBD, according to a 2019 Gallup poll, the CBD space isn’t going away. For lawmakers, Morachnik had a simple message.

“Just fix this effing thing once and for all.”