The FDA is trying to assault the legal medical cannabis industry with new regulatory measures targeting cannabidiol extracts.
While the U.S. government hasn’t passed any laws banning cannabidiol (CBD) extracts, the Food and Drug Administration is attempting to create a regulatory backlash against legal, natural medicine in America.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is the cannabinoid extracted from the cannabis plant that has been used to treat a range of medical conditions such as chronic pain, epilepsy, and other neurological diseases.
Because of the medical success cannabis patients have found with CBD extracts like oils and concentrates, CBD is gaining in popularity. As a natural medicine, it is frequently considered by patients seeking an alternative to painkillers and other medications with addictive or harmful side-effects.
Unlike THC, the cannabinoid that creates the euphoric effects of cannabis, CBD is relatively non-psychoactive. Patients can treat diseases with CBD without getting high.
The popularity of CBD has made it a threat to the dominance of “Big Pharma,” as major pharmaceutical companies fear competition in markets they have long-dominated.
The FDA essentially writes its “regulatory laws.”
The FDA has posted a clear statement on its website which states that CBD’s can’t sell as a dietary supplement. This is action is a direct regulatory attack on hemp extracts, but it is not technically a law that was passed by Congress.
But cannabidiol is on the FDA’s radar, and they are beginning a campaign of regulatory intimidation to try to destroy the marketplace for CBD extracts.
If regulations pass, the result could effectively be a ban on CBD.
Those in the legal medical cannabis industry are worried such regulations could seriously hurt the marketplace for CBD extracts.
Critics are pointing to the flawed logic of the FDAs regulatory proposals.
Mostly, the FDA has always considered CBD extracts a “dietary supplement,” which are not subject to FDA approval.
Because of the success of CBD as a medicine, the FDA wants to re-classify it as a “new drug,” which would require lengthy and costly investigations and approval.
The FDA is now attempting to regulate them out of existence as dietary supplements.
