California prepares to police burgeoning CBD market

Pictured is a handful of trimmed hemp flowers at Fletcher Farms in Vale, Oregon. | Natalie Ready / POLITICO

LOS ANGELES – California stands ready to crack down on the fast-growing hemp market to ensure that CBD-infused products are accurately labeled and safe – a shift that was felt nationwide, given the state’s formidable purchasing power.

The extract used in soaps, foods, and other wellness products has grown in popularity since Congress legalized hemp in the Agriculture Act of 2018. But the FDA has refused to regulate CBD or cannabidiol as a dietary supplement because it’s an active ingredient in a federally approved drug. In the absence of federal oversight, states were largely left to monitor the products – and unchecked and mislabelled items flooded stores.

The drive to establish a regulatory system in California has dragged on for years amid ongoing battles in the sister hemp and cannabis industries, such as whether or not to allow inhalable hemp products, an idea loathed in the cannabis world. The interests of hemp, cannabis and nutritional supplements finally came together this year around a proposal that many in the hemp industry say will force bad actors around the world to make a choice: clean up their operations or access the largest health care facility. and losing wellness market in the US

“It’s a great way to hold people who sell products across the country accountable because everyone wants to sell in California,” said Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable. “And to sell in California you will meet some of the highest standards anywhere.”

The regulatory law that Governor Gavin Newsom will sign in the coming days, CA AB 45 (21R), would keep manufacturers to strict testing and labeling guidelines. It would make it possible to include CBD and other parts of the hemp plant in food, beverages, and cosmetics, something that was not previously allowed under California Department of Health regulations. The law would also ban all forms of THC – the psychoactive compound in cannabis – in hemp products.

CBD can now be found in oils, foods, and lotions in thousands of stores across the country, with brands promising a miracle cure that can relieve a variety of ailments including pain, anxiety, and depression. California alone accounted for $ 730 million in CBD sales in 2019, two and a half times more than any other state.

But these readily available products exist in a gray area: CBD oil itself is legal, but not as a supplement in most goods sold in states like California with no hemp regulations. However, the FDA doesn’t cite companies selling such items, and large retailers run them.

The California proposal would set enforcement funding fees and give state health officials the power to seize products that fail to meet testing standards at any point in the supply chain. It would also create a database of licensed manufacturers that would make it easier for enforcement officers to know if products are allowed on store shelves.

Lawmakers and health advocates say a strong regulatory system is needed to protect consumers. Too many commercially available products contain far less CBD than advertised or could be adulterated with dangerous substances.

“The product is everywhere. You can enter a world market, a health food store, a pet store and see CBD there, ”said Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), the author of the bill. “There is no label, it doesn’t tell you if it’s safe. So I want to make sure that people know what they are buying. “

Recent studies by the FDA and private companies have highlighted such safety concerns. FDA researchers wrote in a report to Congress last year that fewer than half of the 147 products randomly tested contained the amount of CBD indicated on the label. Almost half of these items also exceeded the legal THC limit.

Smaller, local studies have found similarly worrying results. The Minnesota Hemp Farmers & Manufacturers Association found in a test of 25 CBD products that almost two-thirds were mislabelled. Californian testing laboratory CannaSafe said that only 15 percent of the 20 products tested contained the advertised amount of CBD.

California politicians want to change that by requiring manufacturers who use CBD or other hemp extracts to obtain a license from the state health department. The state would keep these items to similar testing and labeling standards as marijuana, one of the most regulated crops in the state.

AB 45 would also require hemp imports to meet California standards and subject facilities outside of the state to CDPH inspections.

California isn’t the first state to legislate on hemp – its proposal is based in part on laws enacted in places like Michigan, New York, and Oregon – but the size of its market could force companies everywhere to step up their quality controls, industry watchers say.

“You are not going to make a less safe product to sell in Idaho because there are no regulations,” Miller said.

Getting a bill to Newsom required years of heated debate and at times divided the hemp and cannabis industries. Some of the major non-CBD-related issues are expected to carry over into next year.

The biggest sticking point for hemp operations was a proposed ban on non-THC inhalable products like hemp cigarettes and vape cartridges, which Newsom, a cannabis ally, was keen to include in final legislation, Aguiar-Curry’s office said.

The hemp industry has been able to avoid a permanent ban on smoking products, but the bill will keep such products in place until lawmakers enact a new tax on them, which Aguiar-Curry targeted inhalable hemp in other states in 2022.

Many hemp associations praised the final version of the bill, but groups representing small cannabis growers were not appeased by the concessions. They say a ban on smokable hemp, even if it’s temporary, could put many mom and pop establishments that mainly grow smokable hemp flowers out of business.

“I think it’s just disastrous and they got it right at harvest time,” said Chris Boucher, a HFG board member and longtime cannabis grower. “You spend millions of dollars on equipment, greenhouses, processing equipment, labor, and you can’t sell your crops in California. That was really just a slap in the face. “

Meanwhile, many cannabis companies argued that AB 45 contained loopholes that could allow hemp products with intoxicating THC levels to hit store shelves, demanding that hemp products be subject to the strict testing and labeling requirements of marijuana. These requests were included as amendments in the final action.

The bill would not allow cannabis companies to grow, manufacture, or sell hemp products unless they hold separate hemp licenses. However, it would direct the Department of Cannabis Control to issue a report by next July on the prospect of hemp integrating into the marijuana market, a provision welcomed by those in the cannabis industry who are hoping for hemp CBD -Trend to profit.

“The bill is not quite what we would have liked,” said Amy Jenkins, a lobbyist for the California Cannabis Industry Association, “but I think these are really some key achievements for the cannabis industry.”

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source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/10/03/california-prepares-to-police-burgeoning-cbd-market/