16 ms·

Changes to U.S. federal authorities relating to production and marketing of hemp

536 points by sahin-boydas 8y ago

refurb 8y ago
This is because both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. I would disagree on the term marketed (yes, I know the FDA has a specific definition). THC and CBD have been used medicinally long before they were approved by the FDA as drugs.
sahin-boydas 8y ago
Media News Links: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cbd-and-hemp-are-now-legal-in-the-us-so-what-does-that-mean-for-pot-companies-2018-12-20 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cbd-and-hemp-are-now-legal... https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/422356-trump-officially-legalizes-industrial-hemp https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/422356-trump-off... https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hemp-legal-farm-bill-states_us_5c1c1ac1e4b08aaf7a86ae4f https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hemp-legal-farm-bill-st...
Cyclone_ 8y ago
Excited to see CBD since it's been shown to be great for treating pain
- canada_dry 8y ago
  Now that it's legal in Canada I recently used CBD for my back pain... it's been quite helpful. Whereas THC (smoking pot) does nothing for me. CBD really needs to be available to anyone with chronic pain (cancer treatment, epilepsy, etc, etc).
  - slantaclaus 8y ago
    Are you using it topically or orally?
    - dana321 8y ago
      Not the original poster, but have used CBD - it works both topically and orally. Shop around, the vast majority of outlets for the paste are rip-off merchants, so do a deep dive and find one that is "honest"
caublestone 8y ago
“Additionally, it’s unlawful under the FD&C Act to introduce food containing added CBD or THC into interstate commerce, or to market CBD or THC products as, or in, dietary supplements, regardless of whether the substances are hemp-derived. This is because both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. Under the FD&C Act, it’s illegal to introduce drug ingredients like these into the food supply, or to market them as dietary supplements. This is a requirement that we apply across the board to food products that contain substances that are active ingredients in any drug.”
- chime 8y ago
  I've tried reading this release and this page https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.htm https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.h... but still can't figure out if CBD oil is legal or illegal. Are CBD gummies suddenly illegal? Or are they suddenly 100% legal (and no longer in the gray area)?
  - deleted 8y ago
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  - Alex3917 8y ago
    Products advertised to contain CBD are schedule 1 unless the FDA grants them marketing approval, in which case they're schedule 5. Products that incidentally contain CBD but aren't advertised as containing it may be more of a grey area, but IANAL. But yeah this is terribly written, they should really hire the SEC to write their press releases for them.
    - HillaryBriss 8y ago
      Yeah, I have to agree. I read it the same way you have. Especially ...both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. Under the FD&C Act, it’s illegal to introduce drug ingredients like these into the food supply ... I may be totally wrong here, but I feel like the FDA, rather than easing up on the regulation of marijuana, has just stated that it's about to clamp down on all these products currently being marketed at your local medicinal pot store.
nuguy 8y ago
I’m going to love watching liberal people try to figure out how this is bad
- nkozyra 8y ago
  That's a weird, vindictive way to expend your energy.
  - balibebas 8y ago
    Is it though?
- VikingCoder 8y ago
  It's bad that it took this long. There, did you love that? Also, what happens to people who are currently incarcerated because it wasn't? It'd be nice to address that, too.
  - nuguy 8y ago
    Having a sense of humor is such a nice thing. Can’t I poke a little fun? Cheers man
danschumann 8y ago
THC is soon to follow, I hope. - From Wisconsin
samstave 8y ago
My issues with CDB/THC legality is that I think its ridiculous that they are requiring for the cultivation, packaging, sale and consumption of it all to be limited to local state regions. Meaning; If you have a legal cultivation license in California - and you grow or manufacture flower/oil/edibles - you cannot legally transport them A) THROUGH any federal land (like along HWY 80 between the bay area and Lake Tahoe) -- as that traverses a federal forest. and B) From California to Nevada - in which both states THC products are legal now. Further, if you obtain a license for your cannabis operation in Nevada in addition to California - you have to fully duplicate your entire operation. Imagine if every single state required every alcohol manufacturer to have a full operation in every state in which Whiskey was to be sold. Its an absolute joke. Finally - the BCC regulations state that a delivery truck cannot leave the facility it is licensed at until 6pm, must be tracked by GPS, and must be back at the same facility by 10PM. So you cannot manufacture goods in northern california, deliver them to southern california and be back in your facility on time. Instead you have to establish licenses POPs along the route / work with other licensed distributors to hand off between locations. The local jurisdiction can supercede any BCC state regulation with whatever they want - which is going to be either the county, or the local city council. City councils are all duplicating effort to determine what their local tax requirements will be - spending money on external consultants to help them figure out tax revenue projections, and then selecting which local parcels are allowewd to operate a business. For example - Truckee california has chosen to only allow delivery operations from a set number of parcels - and rather than the state regulation of 600' between facilities and schools - they have chosen that your property lines cannot be within 600' from eachother && your operation must be on a second story office unit if it is zoned as commercial general. But in order to get a license from the state you must: A) Have a sign-off from the property owner that it is OK to have any cannabis operations from the commercial space you're leasing from (and landlords with loans from the big banks will not allow this due to the stipulations from the federal loans that say they cannot operate cannabis businesses if they have a loan from that bank) B) You have to be able to get the local city cannabis business license (some cities charge many thousands, want freedom to fully audit you at any time, and want $XXX/month or as much as 10% of your revenues whichever is greater.) There is a bunch more -- but its specifically being regulated to prevent the small cultivators from getting into the business - and Monsanto is already secretly operating under shell company names and coming in in a big way. So are the canadians -- and the canadians are low-balling offers to cannabis growers here, pretending to do due diligence - then walking away with the information from the smaller growers and spending money to execute on the business vision plans they glean from the smaller entities.
athenot 8y ago
So this means that the FDA is now regulating the chemicals as drugs. The implications are: - you can't claim to cure/heal anything unless your product undergoes FDA formal approval. Then you can market it as a drug. - you can't mix the chemicals into food and call it food. If they are present, it's classified as a drug. - THC and CBD are considered "active" therefore you can't slide them into supplements or market supplements with those chemicals. The use of those chemicals as supplements is still being evaluated and they haven't issued a regulation on it. - other subtances of the plant are recognized as generally safe so they can be used for other food / cosmetic applications Finally they put out a FAQ: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.htm https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.h...
- deleted 8y ago
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balibebas 8y ago
Looks like we're going to WAR
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
morpheuskafka 8y ago
Fast facts: - Hemp is defined as Cannabis sativa L., inc. parts and derivatives, with no more than 0.3% THC on dry weight basis. - Hemp is excluded from the definitions of "marihuana" and "tetrohydrocannabinol" under the CSA. Therefore, it is no longer a violation of federal drug (controlled substances) laws to produce, distribute, or use hemp. - The THC threshold appears to apply at all times--ie. it is unlawful to extract and concentrate THC from previously legal low-THC sativa. Conversely, CBD oil derived from sativa strains would appear to become unscheduled once concentrated such that the THC content falls below the limit--however, the interim production and possession would remain unlawful without a DEA license. - This Farm Bill will in one year phase out the 2014 FB research hemp program, and replace it with a full blown legal hemp production program. Under agriculture laws, the only penalties at hand for negligent violations are CAPs and program suspension. The law provides that intentional violations are to be reported by Ag to State/Federal LE. - The intentional production of cannabis sativa >0.3% THC would be readily punishable under state, federal CSA. However, because the definition of hemp, which is excluded from the CSA, only takes into account the THC content and not the registration status of the grower, it isn't readily apparent how one could be punished for commerce in unregistered, but THC-threshold compliant, Cannabis sativa. However, an unregistered grower has no shield against accidental/negligent over-THC drug charges. - As the linked press release notes, food and drug law will apply to the interstate commerce in hemp. Thus, it will not be lawful to distribute CBD oil as a "supplement," for example. While FD&C Act violations can result in serious charges, they won't be charged as "drug crimes" ie. controlled substances offenses, and will not have the same impact on federal employment, student loans, etc. - I'm no expert in this, but it seems to me that it would not be possible to tell legal hemp from >0.3% THC sativa. Thus, it would appear that visual identification of marijuana may no longer be a valid basis for a search/detention by law enforcement. TL;DR: All Cannabis sativa L. is no longer a controlled substance, provided that it contains no greater than 0.3% THC. States may authorize a legal, tested method of production, for which no one may be penalized for accidental/negligent violations. The FDA will regulate the interstate commerce in hemp products, including CBD oil, because they are considered drug products. The FDA will not be involved in industrial hemp (ex. hemp ropes) because they are not marketed as food, drugs, or cosmetics. edits: formatting. nb, the law text is at https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Agriculture%20Improvement%20Act%20of%202018.pdf https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Agriculture..., do a ^F for "hemp"
peterwwillis 8y ago
Topic modification? CBD is not legalized, apparently. Hemp (<0.3% THC) is, but CBD is not. “It is true that section 12619 of the Farm Bill removes hemp-derived products from its Schedule I status under the Controlled Substances Act, but the legislation does not legalize CBD generally. As I have noted elsewhere on this blog CBD generally remains a Schedule I substance under federal law . . . The Farm Bill ensures that any cannabinoid — a set of chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant — that is derived from hemp will be legal, if and only if that hemp is produced in a manner consistent with the Farm Bill, associated federal regulations, association state regulations, and by a licensed grower. All other cannabinoids, produced in any other setting, remain a Schedule I substance under federal law and are thus illegal. (The one exception is pharmaceutical-grade CBD products that have been approved by FDA, which currently includes one drug: GW Pharmaceutical’s Epidiolex.)” Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/marijuana/2018/12/20/hemp-officially-legalized-with-president-trump-signature-farm-bill/aKmNr3iS2AVJuRUbLPnz6I/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/marijuana/2018/12/20/hemp-o...
muterad_murilax 8y ago
So hemp products such as protein powder weren't legal in the U.S. before?
- j0ba 8y ago
  My mom in California has been buying hemp seeds for the past couple years at the local health food store, so I'd say no.
  - kristofferR 8y ago
    California doesn't care about what's legal or not, they've legalized selling weed which is still super illegal (federally, which is what we're talking about).
    - moate 8y ago
      Exactly. While someone in CA was probably able to access hemp items (and straight out pot items obviously) it was still illegal to produce. That doesn't mean you couldn't obtain it through mail orders or lax enforcement, but I mean I can go buy heroin from a guy I know, that doesn't make it legal.
    - freehunter 8y ago
      I wouldn't say that California's legalization of marijuana sales indicates a general disregard for the law in California, considering multiple states across the country have the same laws and California wasn't even the first to do it.
- mythrwy 8y ago
  I worked at an animal feed store in the early 90's while in school. We would receive shipments of big bags of hemp seed, like 25 pound clear bags of pot seeds (which I always laughed about) for birds, so apparently hemp seed was legal at that point at least.
moonka 8y ago
Hopefully we'll see some studies about the effectiveness about CBD come soon. I've heard a lot of anecdotes about it's usefulness for things such anxiety and minor inflammation, it would be good to learn more.
- adventured 8y ago
  I have a family member that was increasingly crippled with intense joint related pain. He was eating large quantities of NSAIDs just to get through a day (up to 10x the suggested dose). CBD oil removed more than 3/4 of the pain, returned him to normal function with no more pain killers needed. I've heard people talk about it for years, it was something else to see it dramatically improve the life of someone I know.
nickysielicki 8y ago
This is an extremely misleading headline for people to read and the mods should change it. Hemp has been legal for a long time and the DEA has stated that CBD products produced solely from hemp plants are federally legal. It is still illegal to produce or own cannabidiol derived from Marijuana. Emphatically, this statement from the FDA does not mean that cannabidiol as a chemical is legal. (2016, usdoj.gov) https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/marijuana/m_extract_7350.html https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/marijuana/m_ext... Nothing has changed here except that the FDA is claiming authority to regulate the small subset of CBD products that are legally produced from hemp. The above DOJ article goes somewhat into the science of how these products, if they exist and are produced legally, contain such trace amounts of CBD that they're surely ineffective. Point being: either it's produced from real flowers and it's still illegal, or it's produced from hemp and present in such small amounts that it's of absolutely no benefit. The FDA is merely saying that they want to regulate the latter case.
- nickysielicki 8y ago
  (My opinion) I'm generally against any form of regulation, but as long as we live in a society where drug laws already don't make sense, regulating the headshop CBD industry is going to do good things. The industry around cannabidiol is disgusting, particularly when it comes to products sold outside of states with medical or recreational marijuana. Outside of your average stoner looking for holistic medicine, a great deal of people interested in CBD are cancer patients or family of cancer patients. At best, these companies are making money selling snake oil to dying people. At worst, they're introducing dangerous toxic chemicals to immunocompromised individuals and actively harming them. I can't find the article but there was news a few years ago about a head chemist stepping down from one of the largest (at the time) legal producers of CBD. She wrote an exposé about how their leadership was pushing for higher purity at the cost of safety, and how it forced her to resign.
  - howhireable3141 8y ago
    Agreed but the government is to blame for a lot of this. People are super thirsty for CBD, it is very effective for many people. Especially elderly people that have been anti-pot most of their lives. These people don't have any good ways of making good buying decisions, let a lone having a regulatory body to rely on to test this stuff. So they just choose stuff with good marketing and high concentrations. Not to say your article isn't making a good point -- just that these nasty companies being successful is due to a vacuum created by decades of complete head-up-our-own-ass marijuana policy.
crazy_monkey 8y ago
Smoke away addicts!
gurumeditations 8y ago
So CBD and THC products are illegal if they cross state lines unless the FDA decides otherwise. Wonderful...
- slantaclaus 8y ago
  The FDA also allows Tylenol to be sold OTC
mychael 8y ago
Legalizing CBD, pulling troops from Syria & and it looks like we're leaving Afghanistan soon too. It's a good week for America.
- canada_dry 8y ago
  With Mattis resigning and Kelly also leaving... I'd argue it's very bad week for America.
  - adventured 8y ago
    They're war hawks, pillars of the military industrial complex, hell bent on keeping us at perpetual war in places like Syria and Afghanistan. Mattis resigned because he's at odds with Trump's push toward ending disastrous foreign military entanglements. In his resignation he openly admitted he was not aligned with Trump's views on such matters. Mattis was one of the top representatives for the system of global military deployment that has nearly bankrupted the US Government after ~50 years of it. If Trump is going to continue to pull us back from the policy of military involvement everywhere, then both Mattis and Kelly leaving is a great start. That outrageous $750 billion military spending proposal should go too, we plainly can't afford anything near that, which also means Syria and Afghanistan should naturally go, which means Mattis should go.
    - wutbrodo 8y ago
      > the system of global military deployment that has nearly bankrupted the US Government after ~50 years of it. Huh?
      - adventured 8y ago
        First there was Vietnam, which broke the US Government's finances so badly it had to abandon the weakened gold peg entirely and shift to fiat only. Immediately after that, inflation skyrocketed, the price of all commodities skyrocketed, oil went vertical, the dollar tanked, and the median American standard of living has never recovered back to where it was before that erosion began. The US fiscal position has never been sound since then either. The gold peg stood in the way of the war machine. If you have to actually pay for your perpetual war with taxes, it's not going to work. You'll never get the support of the people to fund the insanity. Instead you pay for it all by not asking permission, you abuse the currency to fund the wars (artificially low interest rates, so you can afford the debt, which destroys the purchasing power of Americans by pushing the dollar down over time, so everything they buy costs them more; all without anywhere near enough of an export increase to offset it). The huge pile of debt Reagan ran up - which back then was the largest accumulation of debt in US history outside of a major war time - is still sitting on the books effectively, perpetually costing us interest forever. That spending explosion was partially focused on unnecessary military spending. Reagan's military spending debt will never be paid off, the true cost of that over time (it'll still be sitting there costing interest 50+ years after it was first accumulated) will be dramatically beyond what occurred during his Presidency years. Then there was the second Iraq war and the spending explosion during the Bush years. That debased the dollar and spurred an immense commodity bubble. Pick 20 random countries and google "xcountry GDP" and then look at the chart of each (then match it with gold and oil charts). What you will see is syncronous soaring of GDP figures and commodities, far beyond anything that is ever seen in normal terms. Most of that isn't actual GDP growth, what that is, is the dollar plunging (vs the other currencies) due to idiotic spending policies during the Bush years, specifically the trillion plus in unnecessary spending during those eight years. That debasing of the dollar mauled US standards of living for the middle class, which was then compounded by the housing collapse and recession. The $750 billion we're about to spend on the military - while not being at war with anybody - is a continuation of roughly five decades of failed policy around our global deployment of military forces and routine foreign adventurism re military action in places like Syria or Libya. That $750 billion should be a lot closer to $450 billion instead. We could just about balance the budget right now, if you combined that with letting the tax cuts reset, slightly raise taxes on the top 10%, and have the Fed push interest costs very slightly down. Instead they're going to keep burying us in mistakes. So now here we are, looking to spend $8 trillion plus over the next ten years just on the military budget (again, while not at war). Meanwhile, we've got about $600 billion per year in debt interest to pay. Soon we'll be paying interest on $30 trillion in public debt. That's the global military machine being partially responsible for bankrupting the US Government. We're not spending $750 billion because we're at war with Nazi Germany or the USSR or some immense foe, it's because we're deployed globally and that's wildly expensive to maintain.
mmaunder 8y ago
For those interested in learning more about CBD use: https://www.projectcbd.org https://www.projectcbd.org (I'm not affiliated) I suffered with seasonal hayfever for 25 years. Cured it completely with CBD this year. Was inspired to try it after I cured my cats seasonal asthma with a tiny CBD dose. It was so effective on me I thought the season hadn't started till it was over. Weirdly effective. I've been a huge skeptic of medicinal marijuana. I am now a convert and I think CBD in particular is an exciting area. Sounds like the headline above may not be entirely accurate. But we will get there. In Washington state the FDA came after CBD manufacturers for making miracle cure claims. As part of the investigation they tested various products. Turns out many had little or no CBD. The industry is rife with snake oil salesmen. But in states where it is legal you have the benefit of accurate lab testing with results published on the packaging. Source for CBD related warning letters from FDA. The WA cases were 2015. https://www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm484109.htm https://www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm484109.h...
- pattle 8y ago
  Out of interest what CDB product did you use (e.g oil, crystals) and what strength was it? Did you experiment with dosing to get find what worked best for you?
sathishmanohar 8y ago
n00b question: Does this make Marijuana legal as well or just hemp?
- adventured 8y ago
  Marijuana remains illegal according to the US Government (even though it's not being actively enforced against states that have legalized). I'd expect we'll need to see at least a dozen more states legalize before they're essentially forced into official national legalization. Every state that legalizes gets us closer, like dominos falling. Sometime in the next decade, the sooner the better obviously.
INTPenis 8y ago
It's very interesting how this whole period of cannabis prohibition has played out. First the UN says cannabis is bad on advice from the US. My country, Sweden, bans the THC cannabinoid. And institutes a zero tolerance policy. So CBD was never banned and people have been selling CBD oils in shops, and even pharmacies, for a while now. The US leading the way in decriminalization apparently banned CBD on a federal level. This just shows how little governments knew about cannabis when it was banned. And finally; I used to be dependent on cannabis. It has been a very hard struggle to stop smoking so much cannabis and focus on working, sober instead. I can't imagine what that struggle would be like if cannabis was being sold for recreational use where I live. Someone somewhere once said that cannabis makes it fun to be bored, and that's the real danger with it. It's not toxic, it's not terribly addictive but you get addicted to feeling good when doing nothing at all. Edit: Just to clarify if anyone is curious, CBD was being handled by the Swedish quivalent of the FDA. While THC was being handled as an illegal narcotic. So our FDA could approve the use and sale of CBD based products without affecting the legal ban of THC.
- wslh 8y ago
  > Someone somewhere once said that cannabis makes it fun to be bored, and that's the real danger with it. It's not toxic, it's not terribly addictive but you get addicted to feeling good when doing nothing at all. Well, like social media or watching TV. It is not clear what is your point.
  - goldenkey 8y ago
    It's just the middle paths fallacy. Acting as if you "see the perspective" of the lawmakers because you used to use the substance but are now evolved enough to see its triflings. But when the triflings are cheetos eating and alleviating boredom, any legalese doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Marijuana is simply illegal because of history and bad leadership in government. Things are changing - but make no mistake, whatever vices MJ has are not any reason for the law to be involved
    - posterboy 8y ago
drawkbox 8y ago
Hemp farming is a win aside from just the CBD product possibilities. Hemp can be more lucrative for farmers [1] making feed instead of alfalfa/others. Hemp also uses less water than other crops [2], it can help with water usage in agriculture heavy states that are tighter on water in the west (CA, AZ, NV, UT). Hemp for textiles is also more efficient than cotton which uses 50% more water and requires more land [2]. Hemp oil possibilities are also interesting to restart and explore. Hemp being legal opens up farmers to switching to it more and give them more markets for a crop that us more lucrative and uses less water. It was used like this a hundred years ago, sad it was caught up in the drug wars for so long. Much farther to go on the ending drug wars but this is a welcome market opening back up that has benefits all around in hemp. [1] https://psmag.com/environment/hemp-is-the-future-of-agriculture https://psmag.com/environment/hemp-is-the-future-of-agricult... [2] https://slate.com/technology/2011/04/hemp-versus-cotton-which-is-better-for-the-environment.html https://slate.com/technology/2011/04/hemp-versus-cotton-whic...
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  If hemp is widely grown and a part of that is production of widely available low-level painkillers then there is, I imagine, a massive challenge to the pharma-corps -- a good deal of their income is probably low-level pain medications? FWIW I've had hemp beer (quite good) and used compostable "plastic" cups made from hemp (no different in appearance or use to regular plastic cups).
  - drawkbox 8y ago
    Yeah it was irrational and nonsensical to keep hemp out of markets for so long in the war on plants, but the upside to that is there are many market uses for it and will provide explosive growth in lots of sectors and jobs in the economy. Hemp legalization definitely challenges Pharma a bit but hard to stop market opportunities and benefits, they will be in on it but hopefully not cornering the market via bribes/force. Production (farmers and eventually more products/companies/uses), consumers, the environment and the market love the product, finally free to innovate. Hemp shall get its revenge after being thrown in the Château d'If and locked up for no reason, it is coming back as the Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge and take over.
marris 8y ago
From the FDA statement: > This is because both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. Wow, this is unfortunate history. So if someone had marketed CBD as a food ingredient prior to the FDA's approval of CBD drugs, then putting it in food now would be OK. Does the FDA even have the facts correct? Were there food products before the CBD drugs were approved?
gdubs 8y ago
The 2018 Farm Bill made growing hemp legal under federal law. This will allow farmers to grow hemp and participate in USDA programs, get greater accsss to banking, etc. Hemp, specifically “industrial hemp”, is just cannabis that has a THC content under 0.3%. There are a lot of products that can be made from hemp; a popular one is CBD oil. There are different methods of extracting it, CO2 extraction being popular, but it’s also sometimes done with solvents. The CBD oil industry is currently unregulated and basically the Wild West. People make bold claims, and it’s not always clear what you’re buying. Though, some companies post 3rd party testing results that correlate with batch numbers on the product label. What this article is really saying is that now that there will be a lot more hemp in the US, the FDA will be taking an active regulatory role. This will likely have a big impact on the CBD oil industry which currently markets as a cure-all in many health food stores. This is good for consumer safety in the long run — hemp is an effective soil cleaner and the heavy metals in the soil can end up in th CBD oil you’re consuming. But it will likely make it a harder process to legitimately sell CBD oil, and require going through a more expensive process involving FDA approval. We’ll see.
elif 8y ago
at the very least the title should say "legal in January" instead of "now", but the CBD part is also a hazardous exaggeration.
honkycat 8y ago
I have smoked weed since I was 16. Back then, I was just rebelling. Also weed made me feel good. I took a break from weed from 24 - 30, doing it EXTREMELY occasionally. Recently I moved to Oregon and got a vape pen, and I learned something. I sincerely love how weed makes me feel. It's not just the taboo of it being illegal. It just feels nice when I want to take the edge off. It helps me relax in the right dosage. It makes me tired at the right time of the night so I do not stay up late. Is vaping weed good for me? Probably not. Is it worse for me than alcohol, eating too much meat, having a sedentary job, or not doing regular weight training? Absolutely not. End the prohibition. Let adults do what they want with their bodies.
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muthukumarn 8y ago
don t desdub me
throw-far-away 8y ago
This is really good news considering I already take 10 mg of CBD 4x/day. I don't like the majority of the CBD industry which seems rife with unfounded, dubious claims and sketchy products, so I buy 99.7%+ CBD isolate with mass spec printouts to back it up and mix it with organic high-oleic oil and organic flavoring myself. It's far cheaper per mg and you know what you're getting.

536 points by sahin-boydas 8y ago

This is because both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. I would disagree on the term marketed (yes, I know the FDA has a specific definition). THC and CBD have been used medicinally long before they were approved by the FDA as drugs.

sahin-boydas 8y ago

Media News Links: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cbd-and-hemp-are-now-legal-in-the-us-so-what-does-that-mean-for-pot-companies-2018-12-20 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cbd-and-hemp-are-now-legal... https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/422356-trump-officially-legalizes-industrial-hemp https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/422356-trump-off... https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hemp-legal-farm-bill-states_us_5c1c1ac1e4b08aaf7a86ae4f https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hemp-legal-farm-bill-st...

Cyclone_ 8y ago

Excited to see CBD since it's been shown to be great for treating pain

canada_dry 8y ago
Now that it's legal in Canada I recently used CBD for my back pain... it's been quite helpful. Whereas THC (smoking pot) does nothing for me. CBD really needs to be available to anyone with chronic pain (cancer treatment, epilepsy, etc, etc).
- slantaclaus 8y ago
  Are you using it topically or orally?
  - dana321 8y ago
    Not the original poster, but have used CBD - it works both topically and orally. Shop around, the vast majority of outlets for the paste are rip-off merchants, so do a deep dive and find one that is "honest"

caublestone 8y ago

“Additionally, it’s unlawful under the FD&C Act to introduce food containing added CBD or THC into interstate commerce, or to market CBD or THC products as, or in, dietary supplements, regardless of whether the substances are hemp-derived. This is because both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. Under the FD&C Act, it’s illegal to introduce drug ingredients like these into the food supply, or to market them as dietary supplements. This is a requirement that we apply across the board to food products that contain substances that are active ingredients in any drug.”

chime 8y ago
I've tried reading this release and this page https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.htm https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.h... but still can't figure out if CBD oil is legal or illegal. Are CBD gummies suddenly illegal? Or are they suddenly 100% legal (and no longer in the gray area)?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Alex3917 8y ago
  Products advertised to contain CBD are schedule 1 unless the FDA grants them marketing approval, in which case they're schedule 5. Products that incidentally contain CBD but aren't advertised as containing it may be more of a grey area, but IANAL. But yeah this is terribly written, they should really hire the SEC to write their press releases for them.
  - HillaryBriss 8y ago
    Yeah, I have to agree. I read it the same way you have. Especially ...both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. Under the FD&C Act, it’s illegal to introduce drug ingredients like these into the food supply ... I may be totally wrong here, but I feel like the FDA, rather than easing up on the regulation of marijuana, has just stated that it's about to clamp down on all these products currently being marketed at your local medicinal pot store.

nuguy 8y ago

I’m going to love watching liberal people try to figure out how this is bad

nkozyra 8y ago
That's a weird, vindictive way to expend your energy.
- balibebas 8y ago
  Is it though?
VikingCoder 8y ago
It's bad that it took this long. There, did you love that? Also, what happens to people who are currently incarcerated because it wasn't? It'd be nice to address that, too.
- nuguy 8y ago
  Having a sense of humor is such a nice thing. Can’t I poke a little fun? Cheers man

danschumann 8y ago

THC is soon to follow, I hope. - From Wisconsin

samstave 8y ago

My issues with CDB/THC legality is that I think its ridiculous that they are requiring for the cultivation, packaging, sale and consumption of it all to be limited to local state regions. Meaning; If you have a legal cultivation license in California - and you grow or manufacture flower/oil/edibles - you cannot legally transport them A) THROUGH any federal land (like along HWY 80 between the bay area and Lake Tahoe) -- as that traverses a federal forest. and B) From California to Nevada - in which both states THC products are legal now. Further, if you obtain a license for your cannabis operation in Nevada in addition to California - you have to fully duplicate your entire operation. Imagine if every single state required every alcohol manufacturer to have a full operation in every state in which Whiskey was to be sold. Its an absolute joke. Finally - the BCC regulations state that a delivery truck cannot leave the facility it is licensed at until 6pm, must be tracked by GPS, and must be back at the same facility by 10PM. So you cannot manufacture goods in northern california, deliver them to southern california and be back in your facility on time. Instead you have to establish licenses POPs along the route / work with other licensed distributors to hand off between locations. The local jurisdiction can supercede any BCC state regulation with whatever they want - which is going to be either the county, or the local city council. City councils are all duplicating effort to determine what their local tax requirements will be - spending money on external consultants to help them figure out tax revenue projections, and then selecting which local parcels are allowewd to operate a business. For example - Truckee california has chosen to only allow delivery operations from a set number of parcels - and rather than the state regulation of 600' between facilities and schools - they have chosen that your property lines cannot be within 600' from eachother && your operation must be on a second story office unit if it is zoned as commercial general. But in order to get a license from the state you must: A) Have a sign-off from the property owner that it is OK to have any cannabis operations from the commercial space you're leasing from (and landlords with loans from the big banks will not allow this due to the stipulations from the federal loans that say they cannot operate cannabis businesses if they have a loan from that bank) B) You have to be able to get the local city cannabis business license (some cities charge many thousands, want freedom to fully audit you at any time, and want $XXX/month or as much as 10% of your revenues whichever is greater.) There is a bunch more -- but its specifically being regulated to prevent the small cultivators from getting into the business - and Monsanto is already secretly operating under shell company names and coming in in a big way. So are the canadians -- and the canadians are low-balling offers to cannabis growers here, pretending to do due diligence - then walking away with the information from the smaller growers and spending money to execute on the business vision plans they glean from the smaller entities.

athenot 8y ago

So this means that the FDA is now regulating the chemicals as drugs. The implications are: - you can't claim to cure/heal anything unless your product undergoes FDA formal approval. Then you can market it as a drug. - you can't mix the chemicals into food and call it food. If they are present, it's classified as a drug. - THC and CBD are considered "active" therefore you can't slide them into supplements or market supplements with those chemicals. The use of those chemicals as supplements is still being evaluated and they haven't issued a regulation on it. - other subtances of the plant are recognized as generally safe so they can be used for other food / cosmetic applications Finally they put out a FAQ: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.htm https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm421168.h...

deleted 8y ago
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balibebas 8y ago

Looks like we're going to WAR

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

morpheuskafka 8y ago

Fast facts: - Hemp is defined as Cannabis sativa L., inc. parts and derivatives, with no more than 0.3% THC on dry weight basis. - Hemp is excluded from the definitions of "marihuana" and "tetrohydrocannabinol" under the CSA. Therefore, it is no longer a violation of federal drug (controlled substances) laws to produce, distribute, or use hemp. - The THC threshold appears to apply at all times--ie. it is unlawful to extract and concentrate THC from previously legal low-THC sativa. Conversely, CBD oil derived from sativa strains would appear to become unscheduled once concentrated such that the THC content falls below the limit--however, the interim production and possession would remain unlawful without a DEA license. - This Farm Bill will in one year phase out the 2014 FB research hemp program, and replace it with a full blown legal hemp production program. Under agriculture laws, the only penalties at hand for negligent violations are CAPs and program suspension. The law provides that intentional violations are to be reported by Ag to State/Federal LE. - The intentional production of cannabis sativa >0.3% THC would be readily punishable under state, federal CSA. However, because the definition of hemp, which is excluded from the CSA, only takes into account the THC content and not the registration status of the grower, it isn't readily apparent how one could be punished for commerce in unregistered, but THC-threshold compliant, Cannabis sativa. However, an unregistered grower has no shield against accidental/negligent over-THC drug charges. - As the linked press release notes, food and drug law will apply to the interstate commerce in hemp. Thus, it will not be lawful to distribute CBD oil as a "supplement," for example. While FD&C Act violations can result in serious charges, they won't be charged as "drug crimes" ie. controlled substances offenses, and will not have the same impact on federal employment, student loans, etc. - I'm no expert in this, but it seems to me that it would not be possible to tell legal hemp from >0.3% THC sativa. Thus, it would appear that visual identification of marijuana may no longer be a valid basis for a search/detention by law enforcement. TL;DR: All Cannabis sativa L. is no longer a controlled substance, provided that it contains no greater than 0.3% THC. States may authorize a legal, tested method of production, for which no one may be penalized for accidental/negligent violations. The FDA will regulate the interstate commerce in hemp products, including CBD oil, because they are considered drug products. The FDA will not be involved in industrial hemp (ex. hemp ropes) because they are not marketed as food, drugs, or cosmetics. edits: formatting. nb, the law text is at https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Agriculture%20Improvement%20Act%20of%202018.pdf https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Agriculture..., do a ^F for "hemp"

peterwwillis 8y ago

Topic modification? CBD is not legalized, apparently. Hemp (<0.3% THC) is, but CBD is not. “It is true that section 12619 of the Farm Bill removes hemp-derived products from its Schedule I status under the Controlled Substances Act, but the legislation does not legalize CBD generally. As I have noted elsewhere on this blog CBD generally remains a Schedule I substance under federal law . . . The Farm Bill ensures that any cannabinoid — a set of chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant — that is derived from hemp will be legal, if and only if that hemp is produced in a manner consistent with the Farm Bill, associated federal regulations, association state regulations, and by a licensed grower. All other cannabinoids, produced in any other setting, remain a Schedule I substance under federal law and are thus illegal. (The one exception is pharmaceutical-grade CBD products that have been approved by FDA, which currently includes one drug: GW Pharmaceutical’s Epidiolex.)” Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/marijuana/2018/12/20/hemp-officially-legalized-with-president-trump-signature-farm-bill/aKmNr3iS2AVJuRUbLPnz6I/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/marijuana/2018/12/20/hemp-o...

muterad_murilax 8y ago

So hemp products such as protein powder weren't legal in the U.S. before?

j0ba 8y ago
My mom in California has been buying hemp seeds for the past couple years at the local health food store, so I'd say no.
- kristofferR 8y ago
  California doesn't care about what's legal or not, they've legalized selling weed which is still super illegal (federally, which is what we're talking about).
  - moate 8y ago
    Exactly. While someone in CA was probably able to access hemp items (and straight out pot items obviously) it was still illegal to produce. That doesn't mean you couldn't obtain it through mail orders or lax enforcement, but I mean I can go buy heroin from a guy I know, that doesn't make it legal.
  - freehunter 8y ago
    I wouldn't say that California's legalization of marijuana sales indicates a general disregard for the law in California, considering multiple states across the country have the same laws and California wasn't even the first to do it.
mythrwy 8y ago
I worked at an animal feed store in the early 90's while in school. We would receive shipments of big bags of hemp seed, like 25 pound clear bags of pot seeds (which I always laughed about) for birds, so apparently hemp seed was legal at that point at least.

moonka 8y ago

Hopefully we'll see some studies about the effectiveness about CBD come soon. I've heard a lot of anecdotes about it's usefulness for things such anxiety and minor inflammation, it would be good to learn more.

adventured 8y ago
I have a family member that was increasingly crippled with intense joint related pain. He was eating large quantities of NSAIDs just to get through a day (up to 10x the suggested dose). CBD oil removed more than 3/4 of the pain, returned him to normal function with no more pain killers needed. I've heard people talk about it for years, it was something else to see it dramatically improve the life of someone I know.

nickysielicki 8y ago

This is an extremely misleading headline for people to read and the mods should change it. Hemp has been legal for a long time and the DEA has stated that CBD products produced solely from hemp plants are federally legal. It is still illegal to produce or own cannabidiol derived from Marijuana. Emphatically, this statement from the FDA does not mean that cannabidiol as a chemical is legal. (2016, usdoj.gov) https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/marijuana/m_extract_7350.html https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/marijuana/m_ext... Nothing has changed here except that the FDA is claiming authority to regulate the small subset of CBD products that are legally produced from hemp. The above DOJ article goes somewhat into the science of how these products, if they exist and are produced legally, contain such trace amounts of CBD that they're surely ineffective. Point being: either it's produced from real flowers and it's still illegal, or it's produced from hemp and present in such small amounts that it's of absolutely no benefit. The FDA is merely saying that they want to regulate the latter case.

nickysielicki 8y ago
(My opinion) I'm generally against any form of regulation, but as long as we live in a society where drug laws already don't make sense, regulating the headshop CBD industry is going to do good things. The industry around cannabidiol is disgusting, particularly when it comes to products sold outside of states with medical or recreational marijuana. Outside of your average stoner looking for holistic medicine, a great deal of people interested in CBD are cancer patients or family of cancer patients. At best, these companies are making money selling snake oil to dying people. At worst, they're introducing dangerous toxic chemicals to immunocompromised individuals and actively harming them. I can't find the article but there was news a few years ago about a head chemist stepping down from one of the largest (at the time) legal producers of CBD. She wrote an exposé about how their leadership was pushing for higher purity at the cost of safety, and how it forced her to resign.
- howhireable3141 8y ago
  Agreed but the government is to blame for a lot of this. People are super thirsty for CBD, it is very effective for many people. Especially elderly people that have been anti-pot most of their lives. These people don't have any good ways of making good buying decisions, let a lone having a regulatory body to rely on to test this stuff. So they just choose stuff with good marketing and high concentrations. Not to say your article isn't making a good point -- just that these nasty companies being successful is due to a vacuum created by decades of complete head-up-our-own-ass marijuana policy.

crazy_monkey 8y ago

Smoke away addicts!

gurumeditations 8y ago

So CBD and THC products are illegal if they cross state lines unless the FDA decides otherwise. Wonderful...

slantaclaus 8y ago
The FDA also allows Tylenol to be sold OTC

mychael 8y ago

Legalizing CBD, pulling troops from Syria & and it looks like we're leaving Afghanistan soon too. It's a good week for America.

canada_dry 8y ago
With Mattis resigning and Kelly also leaving... I'd argue it's very bad week for America.
- adventured 8y ago
  They're war hawks, pillars of the military industrial complex, hell bent on keeping us at perpetual war in places like Syria and Afghanistan. Mattis resigned because he's at odds with Trump's push toward ending disastrous foreign military entanglements. In his resignation he openly admitted he was not aligned with Trump's views on such matters. Mattis was one of the top representatives for the system of global military deployment that has nearly bankrupted the US Government after ~50 years of it. If Trump is going to continue to pull us back from the policy of military involvement everywhere, then both Mattis and Kelly leaving is a great start. That outrageous $750 billion military spending proposal should go too, we plainly can't afford anything near that, which also means Syria and Afghanistan should naturally go, which means Mattis should go.
  - wutbrodo 8y ago
    > the system of global military deployment that has nearly bankrupted the US Government after ~50 years of it. Huh?
    - adventured 8y ago
      First there was Vietnam, which broke the US Government's finances so badly it had to abandon the weakened gold peg entirely and shift to fiat only. Immediately after that, inflation skyrocketed, the price of all commodities skyrocketed, oil went vertical, the dollar tanked, and the median American standard of living has never recovered back to where it was before that erosion began. The US fiscal position has never been sound since then either. The gold peg stood in the way of the war machine. If you have to actually pay for your perpetual war with taxes, it's not going to work. You'll never get the support of the people to fund the insanity. Instead you pay for it all by not asking permission, you abuse the currency to fund the wars (artificially low interest rates, so you can afford the debt, which destroys the purchasing power of Americans by pushing the dollar down over time, so everything they buy costs them more; all without anywhere near enough of an export increase to offset it). The huge pile of debt Reagan ran up - which back then was the largest accumulation of debt in US history outside of a major war time - is still sitting on the books effectively, perpetually costing us interest forever. That spending explosion was partially focused on unnecessary military spending. Reagan's military spending debt will never be paid off, the true cost of that over time (it'll still be sitting there costing interest 50+ years after it was first accumulated) will be dramatically beyond what occurred during his Presidency years. Then there was the second Iraq war and the spending explosion during the Bush years. That debased the dollar and spurred an immense commodity bubble. Pick 20 random countries and google "xcountry GDP" and then look at the chart of each (then match it with gold and oil charts). What you will see is syncronous soaring of GDP figures and commodities, far beyond anything that is ever seen in normal terms. Most of that isn't actual GDP growth, what that is, is the dollar plunging (vs the other currencies) due to idiotic spending policies during the Bush years, specifically the trillion plus in unnecessary spending during those eight years. That debasing of the dollar mauled US standards of living for the middle class, which was then compounded by the housing collapse and recession. The $750 billion we're about to spend on the military - while not being at war with anybody - is a continuation of roughly five decades of failed policy around our global deployment of military forces and routine foreign adventurism re military action in places like Syria or Libya. That $750 billion should be a lot closer to $450 billion instead. We could just about balance the budget right now, if you combined that with letting the tax cuts reset, slightly raise taxes on the top 10%, and have the Fed push interest costs very slightly down. Instead they're going to keep burying us in mistakes. So now here we are, looking to spend $8 trillion plus over the next ten years just on the military budget (again, while not at war). Meanwhile, we've got about $600 billion per year in debt interest to pay. Soon we'll be paying interest on $30 trillion in public debt. That's the global military machine being partially responsible for bankrupting the US Government. We're not spending $750 billion because we're at war with Nazi Germany or the USSR or some immense foe, it's because we're deployed globally and that's wildly expensive to maintain.

mmaunder 8y ago

For those interested in learning more about CBD use: https://www.projectcbd.org https://www.projectcbd.org (I'm not affiliated) I suffered with seasonal hayfever for 25 years. Cured it completely with CBD this year. Was inspired to try it after I cured my cats seasonal asthma with a tiny CBD dose. It was so effective on me I thought the season hadn't started till it was over. Weirdly effective. I've been a huge skeptic of medicinal marijuana. I am now a convert and I think CBD in particular is an exciting area. Sounds like the headline above may not be entirely accurate. But we will get there. In Washington state the FDA came after CBD manufacturers for making miracle cure claims. As part of the investigation they tested various products. Turns out many had little or no CBD. The industry is rife with snake oil salesmen. But in states where it is legal you have the benefit of accurate lab testing with results published on the packaging. Source for CBD related warning letters from FDA. The WA cases were 2015. https://www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm484109.htm https://www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm484109.h...

pattle 8y ago
Out of interest what CDB product did you use (e.g oil, crystals) and what strength was it? Did you experiment with dosing to get find what worked best for you?

sathishmanohar 8y ago

n00b question: Does this make Marijuana legal as well or just hemp?

adventured 8y ago
Marijuana remains illegal according to the US Government (even though it's not being actively enforced against states that have legalized). I'd expect we'll need to see at least a dozen more states legalize before they're essentially forced into official national legalization. Every state that legalizes gets us closer, like dominos falling. Sometime in the next decade, the sooner the better obviously.

INTPenis 8y ago

It's very interesting how this whole period of cannabis prohibition has played out. First the UN says cannabis is bad on advice from the US. My country, Sweden, bans the THC cannabinoid. And institutes a zero tolerance policy. So CBD was never banned and people have been selling CBD oils in shops, and even pharmacies, for a while now. The US leading the way in decriminalization apparently banned CBD on a federal level. This just shows how little governments knew about cannabis when it was banned. And finally; I used to be dependent on cannabis. It has been a very hard struggle to stop smoking so much cannabis and focus on working, sober instead. I can't imagine what that struggle would be like if cannabis was being sold for recreational use where I live. Someone somewhere once said that cannabis makes it fun to be bored, and that's the real danger with it. It's not toxic, it's not terribly addictive but you get addicted to feeling good when doing nothing at all. Edit: Just to clarify if anyone is curious, CBD was being handled by the Swedish quivalent of the FDA. While THC was being handled as an illegal narcotic. So our FDA could approve the use and sale of CBD based products without affecting the legal ban of THC.

wslh 8y ago
> Someone somewhere once said that cannabis makes it fun to be bored, and that's the real danger with it. It's not toxic, it's not terribly addictive but you get addicted to feeling good when doing nothing at all. Well, like social media or watching TV. It is not clear what is your point.
- goldenkey 8y ago
  It's just the middle paths fallacy. Acting as if you "see the perspective" of the lawmakers because you used to use the substance but are now evolved enough to see its triflings. But when the triflings are cheetos eating and alleviating boredom, any legalese doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Marijuana is simply illegal because of history and bad leadership in government. Things are changing - but make no mistake, whatever vices MJ has are not any reason for the law to be involved
  - posterboy 8y ago

drawkbox 8y ago

Hemp farming is a win aside from just the CBD product possibilities. Hemp can be more lucrative for farmers [1] making feed instead of alfalfa/others. Hemp also uses less water than other crops [2], it can help with water usage in agriculture heavy states that are tighter on water in the west (CA, AZ, NV, UT). Hemp for textiles is also more efficient than cotton which uses 50% more water and requires more land [2]. Hemp oil possibilities are also interesting to restart and explore. Hemp being legal opens up farmers to switching to it more and give them more markets for a crop that us more lucrative and uses less water. It was used like this a hundred years ago, sad it was caught up in the drug wars for so long. Much farther to go on the ending drug wars but this is a welcome market opening back up that has benefits all around in hemp. [1] https://psmag.com/environment/hemp-is-the-future-of-agriculture https://psmag.com/environment/hemp-is-the-future-of-agricult... [2] https://slate.com/technology/2011/04/hemp-versus-cotton-which-is-better-for-the-environment.html https://slate.com/technology/2011/04/hemp-versus-cotton-whic...

pbhjpbhj 8y ago
If hemp is widely grown and a part of that is production of widely available low-level painkillers then there is, I imagine, a massive challenge to the pharma-corps -- a good deal of their income is probably low-level pain medications? FWIW I've had hemp beer (quite good) and used compostable "plastic" cups made from hemp (no different in appearance or use to regular plastic cups).
- drawkbox 8y ago
  Yeah it was irrational and nonsensical to keep hemp out of markets for so long in the war on plants, but the upside to that is there are many market uses for it and will provide explosive growth in lots of sectors and jobs in the economy. Hemp legalization definitely challenges Pharma a bit but hard to stop market opportunities and benefits, they will be in on it but hopefully not cornering the market via bribes/force. Production (farmers and eventually more products/companies/uses), consumers, the environment and the market love the product, finally free to innovate. Hemp shall get its revenge after being thrown in the Château d'If and locked up for no reason, it is coming back as the Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge and take over.

marris 8y ago

From the FDA statement: > This is because both CBD and THC are active ingredients in FDA-approved drugs and were the subject of substantial clinical investigations before they were marketed as foods or dietary supplements. Wow, this is unfortunate history. So if someone had marketed CBD as a food ingredient prior to the FDA's approval of CBD drugs, then putting it in food now would be OK. Does the FDA even have the facts correct? Were there food products before the CBD drugs were approved?

gdubs 8y ago

The 2018 Farm Bill made growing hemp legal under federal law. This will allow farmers to grow hemp and participate in USDA programs, get greater accsss to banking, etc. Hemp, specifically “industrial hemp”, is just cannabis that has a THC content under 0.3%. There are a lot of products that can be made from hemp; a popular one is CBD oil. There are different methods of extracting it, CO2 extraction being popular, but it’s also sometimes done with solvents. The CBD oil industry is currently unregulated and basically the Wild West. People make bold claims, and it’s not always clear what you’re buying. Though, some companies post 3rd party testing results that correlate with batch numbers on the product label. What this article is really saying is that now that there will be a lot more hemp in the US, the FDA will be taking an active regulatory role. This will likely have a big impact on the CBD oil industry which currently markets as a cure-all in many health food stores. This is good for consumer safety in the long run — hemp is an effective soil cleaner and the heavy metals in the soil can end up in th CBD oil you’re consuming. But it will likely make it a harder process to legitimately sell CBD oil, and require going through a more expensive process involving FDA approval. We’ll see.

elif 8y ago

at the very least the title should say "legal in January" instead of "now", but the CBD part is also a hazardous exaggeration.

honkycat 8y ago

I have smoked weed since I was 16. Back then, I was just rebelling. Also weed made me feel good. I took a break from weed from 24 - 30, doing it EXTREMELY occasionally. Recently I moved to Oregon and got a vape pen, and I learned something. I sincerely love how weed makes me feel. It's not just the taboo of it being illegal. It just feels nice when I want to take the edge off. It helps me relax in the right dosage. It makes me tired at the right time of the night so I do not stay up late. Is vaping weed good for me? Probably not. Is it worse for me than alcohol, eating too much meat, having a sedentary job, or not doing regular weight training? Absolutely not. End the prohibition. Let adults do what they want with their bodies.

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muthukumarn 8y ago

don t desdub me

throw-far-away 8y ago

This is really good news considering I already take 10 mg of CBD 4x/day. I don't like the majority of the CBD industry which seems rife with unfounded, dubious claims and sketchy products, so I buy 99.7%+ CBD isolate with mass spec printouts to back it up and mix it with organic high-oleic oil and organic flavoring myself. It's far cheaper per mg and you know what you're getting.