David George-Cosh

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The DIY Queen is getting into the cannabis business. 

Martha Stewart, the veteran TV personality and retail executive, is partnering with Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED.TO), the world's biggest cannabis company, as an advisor to develop a new line of pot-related products, the company said Thursday. 

"I am delighted to establish this partnership with Canopy Growth and share with them the knowledge I have gained after years of 'doing it all,’” Stewart said in a statement.

Smiths Falls, Ont.-based Canopy said it plans to tap Stewart's vast knowledge in consumer goods as the company develops human and animal health products infused with cannabidiol (CBD) and other cannabinoids.

"Martha is one of a kind and I am so excited to be able to work alongside this icon to sharpen our CBD product offerings across categories from human to animal," said Bruce Linton, chairman and chief executive officer of Canopy, in a statement. 

Terms of the advisory deal were not disclosed and the company did not provide further details on what kind of products it plans to develop or when they will be released. 

Canopy was recently awarded a license in New York state to produce industrial hemp, which is used for the extraction of CBD. The company said it plans to invest up to US$150 million to build a hemp industrial park in New York. 

According to a report released by Cowen & Co. on Monday, nearly 7 per cent of Americans are already using a CBD product. Cowen forecasts 25 million consumers will buy a CBD product by 2025, which it estimates would imply a US$16-billion market opportunity. 

The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, passed in December, opened the door for legal hemp-derived CBD to be produced, but only under certain circumstances. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to investigate whether it will legalize CBD-infused food products in April, Scott Gottlieb, the agency's commissioner, told a House committee on Wednesday. 

This isn't the first time Stewart has dabbled in the world of cannabis. Stewart filmed two seasons of a cooking show with hip hop artist Snoop Dogg, one of the biggest proponents of marijuana in the world, and made a batch of pot-infused brownies in one of the episodes. 

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