The FDA Is About to Crack Down on Shady CBD Products

This ‘Wild West’ industry could be facing some law and order

Tim McDonnell
Elemental

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Credit: yavdat/Getty Images

FFederal officials are coming for America’s latest health trend. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is gearing up to tighten its oversight of cannabidiol, better known as CBD — the non-intoxicating chemical cousin of THC that is marketed as a natural remedy for a wide variety of ailments.

Since late last year, products containing CBD — from pills, oils, and cosmetics to drinks, gummies, and even dog treats — have proliferated across the country. The boom is largely thanks to a change in federal law in December 2018 that legalized hemp, a low-THC variety of marijuana that had previously been categorized with pot and harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. That change opened the door for legal hemp-derived CBD and a market that could explode to $22 billion by 2022, according to the market research firm Brightfield Group.

Now a broad cross section of medical researchers, policy analysts, marijuana industry insiders, and federal regulators are worried that door was opened a little too wide. On June 20, the House of Representatives approved an amendment to a package of upcoming spending bills that directs the FDA to come up with new regulations for CBD products.

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