There’s been a lot of back and forth about whether CBD is actually federally legal and whether or not you can legally sell your product without getting in any sort of trouble.
The FDA, the agency responsible for regulating the sale and marketing of CBD products in America, put out a statement shortly after the farm bill was signed into law.
We are going to go through it and explain what the FDA statement really means.
We all know now that U.S. 2018 Farm bill was signed into law on December 20th, 2018. It went into effect on January 1st, 2019.
Since then, there have been all these questions about whether or not CBD products are lawful in interstate commerce throughout the U.S.
There are a few things that we know for sure from the Farm bill is that hemp and CBD are no longer included on the Controlled Substances lists under the Controlled Substances Act. So it’s not considered illegal drugs at the DEA can arrest you for.
Also, the Farm bill put the FDA in charge of regulating the sale of the manufacturing and the marketing of food drugs and cosmetics that are derived from hemp and CBD. And the USDA is in charge of governing and regulating the cultivation and the growing of hemp.
On the same day that the farm bill was signed into law, the FDA put out a statement basically confirming their position on hemp-derived compounds and CBD.
Let’s note some major points of that statement for you.
“The FDA a statement confirmed that hemp and derivatives of it, including CBD that contained 0.3% less THC on a dry weight basis, are no longer illegal.”
“It confirmed that the Farm bill, aka as the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, explicitly preserved the FDA’s authority to regulate products that contain cannabis-derived compounds under the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act.”
Long story short: the FDA has the authority to regulate any food drugs or cosmetics which contain CBD or any other cannabis compounds.
In light of this, the FDA has promised that it’s going to come up with a new regulatory landscape and a new, clearer path about how it’s going to regulate this new area.
The FDA has also made it very clear that they’re going to bring the hammer down on companies that are marketing products with unsubstantiated claims.
It means that if you’re out there marketing a CBD product that claims that it’s curing diseases or treating any sort of ailments, or it’s you being used for some sort of drug purpose, the FDA can literally bring the hammer down on you regarding that they’re also bringing the hammer down on products that are not safe for consumption.
If there’s something in the product or you’re not looking into the third-party lab reports, and you really don’t know what’s in this product, it can potentially harm someone, and you could be in serious trouble. Quality control is very important, and the claims you make about your product are very important from a marketing standpoint where the FDA is concerned.
But with all of that said in their statement, the FDA said that they’d take enforcement action and what enforcement action really means we don’t really know. We know that they’ve issued warning letters to some companies about unsubstantiated claims, but other than that, we haven’t really seen much movement from the FDA against any of the companies that have been selling CBD products through interstate commerce.
It is a bit of a big deal because if there’s anything you’re claiming, your CBD product can cure, treat, resolve, or address this need to be substantiated by the FDA.
That usually means that the product needs to go through clinical trials and research to substantiate what you’re really saying that your product does.
Another thing to note is that the FDA did say in its statement that it’s unlawful for anyone to put CBD additives into any sort of food for human consumption and pet consumption.
There is no precedent for any sort of FDA enforcement against companies that have been doing that again. They’ve only ever issued warning letters against companies who were also making unsubstantiated claims about the products and what they can do for you and what they can cure.
We don’t have any precedent for companies that are just merely selling food or other items with CBD added to it.
The FDA said that there are pathways for companies to seek approval to put CBD into food for human consumption and animal consumption. They’re still working through how those pathways are going to work without having to go through clinical trials and investigations.
They also have the authority to issue new regulations, which allows them to change the rules a little bit to make it clearer and easier for companies to start adding CBD into their food and edible products.
In addition to all of this, the FDA has promised to hold public meetings to get feedback from stakeholders and consumers in the market to get an idea of the negative and positive impact that CBD has had.