[ad_1]
SAN FRANCISCO – Gummed bears, slats and other food, beverages and dietary supplements infused into the CBD are selling quickly, although the US government has declared itself illegal and local authorities have forced some retailers to buy products. . The confusion has led the two largest states in the country and other countries to legalize the cannabis compound that many see as beneficial to their health.
The lawmakers of Texas and California are often in opposition, but they both push bipartisan legislation to circumvent federal law and allow the sale of the compound contained in hemp and marijuana. Republicans and congressional Democrats also urge the US Food and Drug Administration to change its position.
The FDA announced Tuesday the organization of a public hearing in May to gather more information.
RELATED: Jelly Belly's Creator Introduces CBD Infused Jelly Beans
RELATED: How CBD oil can relieve pain with a spray
The resolution of the confusion can not happen fast enough for Jonathan Eppers, who makes Vybes, a popular drink infused with CBD oil. California health inspectors raided his Los Angeles warehouse in January and seized $ 100,000 worth of the drink.
Mr. Eppers said that about 50 California retailers had since abandoned his product and that he had transferred production to Texas. He estimates that lost sales, court fees and moving expenses cost him at least $ 500,000.
"What's going on is amazing and stupid," said Eppers. "They put us in that state of uncertainty that costs us."
Eppers and CBD fans are mystified by the legal insecurity. After all, they say, retailers in California and nine other states that have largely legalized marijuana sell edible products and other products that drive people up, even though the consumption is illegal under the law Federal. US authorities have generally adopted a non-interventionist approach in states where the pot is legal.
The FDA is monitoring CBD because it is the active ingredient of a prescription drug approved to treat two rare epileptic disorders. The agency claims that CBD can not be added to food or sold as a dietary supplement, as officials have not yet determined whether it was safe or effective under other conditions. .
In this photo taken on Thursday, March 21, 2019, Gus Dabais reviews CBD-based products that he sells at his Sidewalk Wellness store in San Francisco. (Photo AP / Eric Risberg)
AP
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told Congress last week that enforcement is limited to vendors who make false health claims. He added that the agency had recently sent warning letters to three companies touting the CBD as a treatment for cancer, Alzheimer's disease, fibromyalgia and addiction.
"But there are currently products on the market for which, given our enforcement priorities and our limited resources, we have not taken any action," he said. declared.
Abbreviation of cannabidiol, CBD is a non-intoxicant molecule found in hemp and marijuana. Both are cannabis plants, but only marijuana has enough THC compound to push users up.
The CBD oil is extracted during the treatment of the plant. While hemp derivatives are essentially free of THC, CBD oil extracted from marijuana may have very little or not enough to produce a high effect.
Sellers and users say that CBD helps relieve pain, anxiety and inflammation, although limited scientific research supports these claims. It appears in products ranging from lotions to cosmetics, soap, diet pills, fruit juices, badtails, candies and beverages.
National and local authorities take almost all crackdowns against the CBD. Health officials in California, home to the country's largest legal marijuana market, warned retailers last summer that any food containing CBD was illegal until lawmakers or regulators say the opposite.
The warning was largely ignored until the beginning of the year, when local and state health authorities began requiring some small businesses to withdraw their products after receiving a complaint.
Health officials in San Francisco recently banned two small farmers from selling CBD food and beverages, while authorities in the Grbad Valley rural area, 308 km away, did the same. small grocery store owned by a cooperative.
"That caught us off guard," said Gus Dabais, owner of Sidewalk Wellness, one of the targeted stores.
The San Francisco Department of Health sent warning letters to 1,900 companies last year, said spokeswoman Veronica Vien. She said the inspectors are not looking for CBD but responding to complaints.
She explained that this was how they ended up "labeling in red" the products of Dabais and Steap Tea Bar, a popular stop in Chinatown selling bubble tea infused with CBD.
Similar scenarios are taking place in Ohio, where authorities ordered a grocery store in Cincinnati to remove the CBD from two stores in January. The following month, New York City's health inspectors removed the CBD-based products from a number of restaurants. In March, police raided two retailers in Fort Worth, Texas, and seized CBD-based products after the district attorney declared the compound illegal.
In Texas, one of the few states to ban all forms of marijuana, lawmakers are advocating the adoption of a measure that would legalize edible products containing hemp oil. He went through his first committee in the House this week.
In California, a similar measure of the CBD has been pbaded to the entire Assembly.
"A number of people have been using it for years, and it can be found on store shelves all over the world, but now people are surprised to find that it's against the law," he said. said Assembly member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Democrat from the Napa region. who introduced the measure. "What this bill will do, is to dispel the confusion."
She said the legislation would prevent states and local authorities from enforcing the FDA's ban and hopes that this law will become law by the month of August.
"This would clear a legal cloud of a legitimate California company," said Jim Gross of the US Hemp Roundtable, an industry badociation.
An increasing number of federal lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, urge the FDA to endorse the CBD. They supported a move to remove hemp from the US Government Prohibited List.
"Hemp is a versatile crop with many uses and applications," McConnell and Wyden wrote to the FDA in February. "We hope that by working with you on the implementation of our legislation, we can help ensure that hemp can be a new cash crop for farmers across the country."
[ad_2]
Source link
