While February, for Montana cannabis patients, hallmarked legal restrictions and litigations, March captured the attention of a nation of marijuana patients as panic ensued over a rumor that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had “outlawed” cannabinoid (CBD). Rest assured that this is not the actual case. Last month the FDA did send out several warning letters to cannabis companies who manufacture CBD products. The letters notified the companies that it is illegal to claim in their labeling that their products can “cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease.”
Michael Felberbaum, a representative of the FDA stated that “Many of these products are claiming in their marketing and promotional materials that they are intended for the use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of diseases, including, for example: cancer, various infections, psychiatric disorders, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and diabetes.”
Manufacturers were ordered to revise their product labeling and remove any such claims. Many in the marijuana community see this targeting of CBD extracts as a blatant move of the federal government to hinder and regulate the cannabis market. Moreover, the FDA has declared that CBD products are a “new drug” and may not be legally introduced or delivered into interstate commerce unless given the explicit approval of the FDA.
The feds made the public announcement that “New drugs may not be legally introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce without prior approval from the FDA
It’s a relief to note that the FDA did not actually ban the CBD products themselves or require that manufacturers withdraw their cannabinoid oils from the existing marketplace.