The latest news about CBD are here:
- Budget from president Donald Trump offers financial support to the FDA for CBD regulation and research.
- The USDA stated that it would not increase the negligence level for THC in its hemp rules because it has no authority to do so.
CBD News Stories
- Trump Budget Proposal Prefers CBD Regulation and Research
- USDA States That Negligence level of THC in Hemp would not be increased
Trump Budget Proposal Prefers CBD Regulation And Research
The 2021 budget proposal by president Donald Trump offers financial support to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for policy and regulation development around CBD.
The proposal declares that “regulation of cannabis and cannabis derivatives” is one of the “preferred activities” of FDA.
A request of $5 million was made by the FDA “to keep regulating the usage of substances derived from cannabis, such as cannabidiol (CBD).”
Particularly, the funding will be directed into “regulatory initiatives, including policy development, and keep performing its current regulatory responsibilities including targeted research, analysis of product applications, enforcement, and inspections.”
How the funding will be distributed among the four of its branches for regulation of CBD and cannabis is listed by the FDA.
- Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM): $0.5M
- FDA HQ: $0.5M
- Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN): $2M
- Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA): $2M
Furthermore, the funds would particularly “offers ORA additional resources to inspect and regulate the establishments that manufactured products regulated by FDA including cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds.”
FDA’s Animal Drugs and Feeds Program would also receive $500,000 to “strengthen its ability to analyze the scientific information on healthy use of cannabis and cannabis derivatives in animal products.”
Since the approval of the 2018 Farm Bill in December 2018, the FDA has been working on the regulatory track for CBD to be legally used as the nutritional supplement.
However, Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA Commissioner, predicted that it could take multiple years for a route without the intervention of Congress.
In January 2020, representative Collin Peterson (D-MN), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, filed a new bill to define CBD as a nutritional supplement, and to permit the FDA to regulate CBD products.
Currently, the bill is in House committees.
USDA States That Negligence Level For THC In Hemp would not be increased.
The decision to not rise the negligence level for THC in hemp was declared by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) because only Congress has that authority.
Hemp is defined as containing no more than 0.3% THC in the 2018 Farm Bill while maintaining a negligence level of 0.5%.
If the THC level was found to exceed the 0.5% level three times within 10 years in the farmer’s hemp, the farmer would be restricted from growing hemp.
Industry stakeholders have demonstrated their concern that specific conditions are responsible for the THC level of a hemp crop to exceed 0.5%, despite farmers doing his utmost to avoid such a situation.
Bruce Summers, USDA Agriculture Marketing Service administrator, demonstrated during a USDA call open to questions from reporters about the Interim Final Rule (IFR) of the agency on hemp that any amendment to THC limits in hemp would have to come from Congress.
During a call, Summers said, “there would be a constitutional adjustment to move from 0.3 to one percent. In other words, Congress would have to take the decision. We couldn’t regulate it.”
He also mentioned that farmers could do “anything feasible” to control the THC level of their hemp under the 0.3%, but THC level above 0.3% in the crop would cause the crop to be discarded.
On the call, it had been stated by Summers and his other colleagues that
Summers and his other USDA colleagues on the call said they would be “flexible” on other matters, such as the 15-day period for lab evaluation after harvesting and whether farmers need to have their crops examined at laboratories approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Also, Summers said that all hemp farmers should be compliant with the 2018 Farm Bill and IFR by November 1, 2020, one year after the release of IFR by USDA.
Another comment period would be opened by the USDA after the 2020 growing season, which would help to notify any change in the policy for the Final rule.
It is expected that the final rule would be ready within two years of the IFR release.
Until now, hemp plans for six states and seven tribes have been approved by the USDA under the IFR.
