With no end in sight to state-by-state prohibition efforts to ban intoxicating hemp products, and the plethora of litigation that has followed, a U.S. senator is now proposing to regulate the rapidly growing marketplace.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act (CSRA) Sept. 25 in hopes of establishing federal guidelines to protect public health and safety when it comes to products that are similar to cannabis but often don’t adhere to the same regulatory standards, such as age restrictions, packaging and labeling requirements, and testing compliance.
More specifically, the CSRA would amend the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act to prevent those under the age of 21 from buying products containing hemp-derived cannabinoids and to require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recall or ban any products with “dangerous chemicals or additives.”
One of the main focuses of the 80-page bill is to keep intoxicating products out of the hands of children, Wyden said.
“Just like the tobacco industry marketing cigarettes to young people, nobody should be slapping fun cartoons and glitzy candy wrapper packaging on cannabis products meant for adults,” he said in a press release. “A federal floor for regulation of hemp products is nonnegotiable to ensure that consumers aren’t put at risk by untested products of unknown origin. My legislation will ensure that adult consumers know what they’re getting, and that hemp products are never sold or marketed to children.”
The CSRA doesn’t prevent states from issuing their own laws or regulations regarding cannabinoid products, including the prohibition thereof. In other words, the act would “explicitly allow states to prohibit, limit or otherwise regulate hemp-derived products” beyond the bill’s provisions, according to Wyden.
However, the act sets a national standard for the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, testing and sale of hemp-derived cannabinoid products. In addition, states could not prevent the transportation or shipment of cannabinoid products through their borders.
While the act aims to provide a regulatory framework for products that meet the legal definition of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill, the proposal would prohibit any product made with or from synthetically or artificially derived cannabinoids. However, the act deciphers between wholly synthetic cannabinoid products (prohibited) and semi-synthetic cannabinoid products (allowed).
“Cannabinoid products that convert a cannabinoid extracted from a cannabis plant into a different cannabinoid that is found in cannabis plants via a single chemical process are semi-synthetic, and are allowed so long as the products are free from any harmful constituents like chemical byproducts or residues,” according to the proposed legislation. This means a cannabinoid that is produced by the conversion of CBD, such as delta-8 THC, would be allowed under the CSRA.
The act would also prohibit adulterated or misbranded cannabinoid products, in part by requiring that products:
be produced in regulated and registered facilities that allow for FDA inspection;be tested for contamination and potency by state-licensed and accredited laboratories;comply with FDA-established levels of safety for heavy metals and byproducts;do not have false or misleading labeling or advertising;do not imitate or replicate products appealing to children, such as snacks or candy with cartoon characters;contain labeling with an internationally recognized symbol for cannabis as well as other common labeling requirements for food and beverage products.
The CSRA includes $1.125 billion in public health funding over five years, including $200 million annually to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for research and data collection and $25 million annually to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) to fund grants to states and nonprofits to reduce underage use.
The act also includes $350 million in cannabis-impaired driving prevention funding over five years, including $40 million annually to the U.S. Department of Transportation and its state-level peers, and $30 annually to fund research to enable the development of an impairment standard for driving under the influence of cannabis.
Wyden’s introduction of the CSRA comes in the wake of governors from California and Missouri taking executive action to prohibit intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products containing even traceable amounts of THC, and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signing a bill that restricts the sale of these products and aims to move them into a regulated market.
While many hemp industry stakeholders opposed these state measures, Wyden’s CRSA attracted endorsements from the U.S. Hemp Roundtable (USHR), the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), the National Industrial Hemp Council, and hemp industry associations from California, Colorado, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota, Virginia, and Texas.
“The hemp industry is united behind a simple, commonsense proposition: Hemp products should be robustly regulated, not the subject of a misguided prohibition,” USHR General Counsel Jonathan Miller said in a public statement. “Senator Wyden’s critical legislation does just that: imposing strong health and safety standards for hemp products while ensuring that they are kept out of the hands of minors.”
Wyden’s proposal appears to have found a middle ground in a recent conflict between cannabis and hemp operators, despite these two groups sharing interests in a common plant.
While unregulated cannabinoid products compete with the cannabis industry without the same heavy financial burdens, prohibitive measures have continued to threaten the existence of the hemp industry in general in recent years.
“For too long, federal inaction has fostered an unregulated marketplace for hemp THC products, endangering the public and creating unfair competition for regulated cannabis businesses,” said Aaron Smith, CEO of the NCIA. “We look forward to working with Senator Wyden to pass the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act because it solves this problem by implementing commonsense safeguards to ensure intoxicating hemp products are tested, properly labeled, and not made available to minors while creating a pathway for manufacturers to provide safe hemp products to adults through a regulated framework.”
Sen. Ron Wyden introduced the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act to ‘clean up’ the hemp market and keep products out of kids’ hands. Read More