Made a search but didn’t see a post quite centered around this topic…
What’s everyone’s feelings on the 2018 Farm Bill? It’s continuing to make moves through the system and is getting closer to passing. We just had a panel in Vermont about how the bill may affect the hemp/CBD industry here.
Now I imagine most of us are using a similar state sanctioned hemp program to operate, usually without much regulation and freedom of sales.
Federal legalization can bring some great opportunities, unless the FDA makes it impossible for small and medium scale operations to operate (basically anyone who is not big pharma)
Regardless we are continuing to expand and plan for the future…
I was wondering the same. My first thoughts were that supply would go up and naturally prices on isolate and biomass would fall. Now I’m kind of thinking that it will open the floodgates for more established markets like Canada and huge companies to come in and buy everything up, raising prices for everyone. It will be interesting to see where it lands.
If it is to remain mostly up to the states to regulate then I’d imagine Vermont will be business as usual + some new regulations, the state is desperately hoping hemp will save our farms as more and more go up for sale and the state population teeters closer to going under 600,000. Vermont produced CBD could be good for the area, but we will have a lot of competition in Maine where large farms and processing already set up shop.
We need this to stay a commodity crop and at least give medium producers a shot at having a license. If pharma takes over, which they probably will one way or another, Vermonters will have lost one of our last hopes at bringing in new money
It’s a very oddly written law, it actually modifies the CSA (DEA must be pissed) to separate hemp from marijuana, and moves Hemp outside DEA regulation, which is great. However, by my read is CBD is now under the control of the FDA, schedule V, and not a food ingredient. The smart money is betting the FDA has been waiting for this to pass to start enforcement. I think 2019 might be very rocky for CBD plays. I suspect alot of hemp CBD guys will pivot and start pushing all the other cannabinoids as they are not called out in CSA…
I also think it will be great for in state medical/rec programs as material produced through them is “outside” the traditional DEA/FDA regulatory structure. I bet we see alot of state programs start to open up to large scale hemp cultivation, but for interstate distribution, not intrastate.
A ballsy move would be to short Charlotte’s Web stock, and pick up options on GW…could be a wind fall.
this is a great link to read, probably the most in depth review of the situation.
Reading that article it seems the FDA is reiterating the relationship of CBD to the FD&C act, which restricts its use in food and dietary supplements, which was already the case in past years. It’s not a death blow to the CBD industry IMO, but I would say all the people who are acting like CBD companies just became 100% legal overnight need to start managing their expectations.
I think FDA regulation would be positive for legitimate CBD manufacturers and consumers as well. Please feel free to disagree, however most of the CLOWNS producing CBD have no idea what they are doing and probably 95% of the products on the shelves are either not what they say they are or simply of no effective medicinal dose.
FDA would raise the cost of producing but it would also weed out 95% of the competition who makes inferior products with inferior business practices and processing. if you are legitimate processer this would help us establish credibility to consumers being FDA approved. Also the FDA will make sure these products have what they say they have and be able to publish some data on medicinal doses for the public.
You dont need to fda to weed out the clowns the free market would do it for them crap product= no ones gonna buy it and they fail. You DONT need more government intervention.try again
Indeed, their sentiments seem geared towards people who are marketing CBD to have “unproven medical effects”, which puts a lot of the scrutiny on marketing and labeling practices, which have ALWAYS been a part of producing CBD products. Our company has anticipated stiff regulations since we started, anyone not expecting the cost of producing CBD to increase I feel weren’t paying attention or were misguided.
cGMP facilities may or may not become a thing, probably will, but having to go before the Pharmaceutical Board is still up for debate.
Well the public is wildly uneducated on cannabinoids and there is very little known. I believe if it is the goal for cannabinoids to be used as medicine and rigorously studied like other medicines it will take the legitimacy of the FDA to help this process. If our ultimate goal is to provide safe medicinal products to the public the FDA to me seems like a logical push.
Without government regulation in all food products it just leads to fads and trends not sustainable medicines.
The biggest decision will be whether or not CBD can be used as an active ingredient in dietary and food products,
" In addition, pathways remain available for the FDA to consider whether there are circumstances in which certain cannabis-derived compounds might be permitted in a food or dietary supplement. Although such products are generally prohibited to be introduced in interstate commerce, the FDA has authority to issue a regulation allowing the use of a pharmaceutical ingredient in a food or dietary supplement. We are taking new steps to evaluate whether we should pursue such a process. However, the FDA would only consider doing so if the agency were able to determine that all other requirements in the FD&C Act are met, including those required for food additives or new dietary ingredients."
I interpreted the language they used in the full statement to be that currently CBD is an active ingredient in a FDA approved pharmaceutical, therefor it is not currently allowed as a dietary supplement, even supplements bearing the “Not evaluated by the FDA to be GRAS” statement, but that they are evaluating and have the authority to allow and regulate the use of a “pharmaceutical ingredient” in a standard dietary supplement.
I believe all the larger CBD companies have, and will continue to lobby for the regulation to come into place, and in turn there will most likely be a required license for said production, cutting out illegitimate producers, but not necessarily requiring clinical trials.
I guess the point is that we will not be seeing CBD gummies on the shelves of Whole Foods anytime soon. We won’t be seeing CBD ice tea at the local 7-11. Without 50 state retail shelf CBD products, there is MASSIVE CBD oversupply in the US. I have seen a number of multi ton CBD processing plays…I think they might have jumped the gun.
I agree with you there my friend. A lot of folks interpreted the language to be something it’s not, and in turn have made huge financial gambles that wont pay off as quickly as they had hoped. But I still feel pretty confident that the “CBD Industry” is going to come to fruition, just with regulation and an entry price.
Anyone who can’t afford market entry may have a problem that’s for sure
Sure, eventually. FDA filings, even if its a NDI (New dietary ingredient), can take years. Most of the CBD guys and gals I have meet are not about to wait a year or two to start seeing revenue, and are clueless about navigating FDA regulations. They are mostly, get rich quick guys, not the kind that are going to spend years playing by the rules. I suspect most will be moving on to greener pastures.
The real guys that are probably having a hard Friday are the Charlotte’s Web’s and Select CBD guys that are making serious numbers selling interstate CBD.
Um, I would say absolutely not. The next step in the CBD game is going to another round of warning letters, followed by fines, and then enforcement. FDA has done million + fines before for selling drugs as dietary ingredients. This hemp bill is not what everyone thought.