When people call for action, the lawmakers, advocates, and stakeholders do… nothing?
CBD Isn’t A Food Supplement, According To The FDA
The Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will not create or structure rules that allow manufacturers to claim their products are dietary supplements.
Apparently, they’ve followed a “careful review” and decided that the current guidelines and rules surrounding dietary supplements and food additives aren’t sufficient for CBD and that they will be looking into new ways to tackle CBD products with the help of Congress.
While the FDA was spending time talking about how CBD cannot be listed as a dietary supplement and how the “current rules won’t work,” they’ve conveniently been denying three petitions from American citizens to request rulemaking surrounding the marketing and labeling of CBD products. So much for trusting lawmakers to do the right thing.
The FDA says that CBD shouldn’t be regulated and that particular safety concerns and data gaps make the administration surrounding the regulation of CBD impossible.
According to Janet Woodcock, Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, “new regulatory pathways would help consumers by providing safeguards and oversight minimize risks.” Unfortunately, she didn’t mention how long it would take to create and legitimize these “new pathways.”
Petitions for rulemaking have also been denied to citizens from the Council for Responsible Nutrition, Natural Products Association, and Consumer Healthcare Products Association.
According to the FDA, CBD products currently put users’ health at risk and, therefore, cannot be legally marketed as dietary supplements.
What A Mess
These kinds of hindrances and roadblocks aren’t slowing down the rapid development of the cannabis industry, but they are damaging the industry and the potential it holds.
When products have no federal regulations, and the agencies responsible for regulating don’t want to get involved, the products start getting thrown all over the place. No regulations mean manufacturers and companies can begin altering their products in ways that wouldn’t be legal if the proper rules were in place.
Michael Bronstein, president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis & Hemp (ATACH), said that this kind of blatant lack of seriousness when it comes to regulating the cannabis industry only highlights the need for congressional action in the industry when it comes to creating and building the regulatory framework.
Other lawmakers have stated that the inaction from Congress isn’t giving lawmakers enough to work with when it comes to working on new regulatory frameworks and pathways.
It’s also turned into a blame game between Congress and the FDA. The FDA says that they don’t think Congress has broadened its regulatory powers enough for them to start looking into and researching other CBD and hemp-derived products.
The FDA has also noted that many companies are marketing products containing delta-8 THC, an intoxicating cannabinoid and, unlike delta-9 THC, isn’t explicitly prohibited under federal law. This lack of explicit prohibition means that, at the moment, the FDA isn’t researching the potential harms or dangers related to delta-8 THC, creating another mess for product manufacturers that include delta-8 THC in their products.
One Step At A Time
While the delays to CBD regulation concern the industry as a whole, the lack of regulation isn’t slow down the industry’s growth or start taking us backward. We must keep our eyes ahead and remember how far we’ve come. Politicians and government agencies will always work slower than the rest of the world when it comes to making the right thing happen.
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