CBD is worthy of the hype, but play by the rules

Today there are 40 states with positive hemp laws—not to mention dozens with medical marijuana laws and 10 with adult-use marijuana laws.

In the CBD world, the nomenclature has shifted to “industrial hemp-derived full-spectrum oil containing CBD” or just plain “hemp oil” (Hemp seed oil is something else entirely.) There is a ton of innovation going on–if companies can get past the regulatory hurdles first. Elementary supplement labeling and claims are the one thing that’s going to trip up many fledgling CBD companies going forward.

And just to make sure the authorities remain on the sidelines while all this innovation and entrepreneurialism happens, the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, thereby taking the DEA out of the equation.  

However, the FDA remains a significant player. The agency approved a CBD isolate in 2018 from GW Pharmaceuticals, and it’s still anybody’s guess as to how aggressive it will act against the hemp oil industry–not to mention whether GW Pharma will content itself with owning one of the three swim lanes for cannabis-derived CBD products, or if it will try to shut down everything that isn't a pharmaceutical. Stay tuned!

The data for Todd's analysis came from the 2018 Supplement Business Report. 

To learn more about this exploding industry, get on the waitlist for NBJ's Hemp & CBD Report, available February 2019.

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