In the last few weeks, two major drugstores publicly announced that they will start carrying products containing hemp-derived cannabidiol (“Hemp-CBD”). Both CVS and Walgreens announced that CBD topicals would be available in their stores, in a select number of states. Notably, both drug store chains limited products to non-ingestible topicals. Dr. Scott Gottleib, the outgoing head of the FDA must have heard the news because on April 2 the FDA issued new guidelines on Hemp-CBD,…

Recently the United States Post Office (“USPS”) issued an advisory on “Acceptance Criteria for Cannabidiol (CBD) Oil and Products Containing CBD.” Those criteria are as follows: 1. A signed self certification statement, subject to the False Statements Act (18 U.S.C. § 1001). Statements must be printed on the mailer’s own letterhead, must be signed by the mailer, and must include the text “I certify that all information furnished in this letter and supporting documents are…

On February 27, 2019 both the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) and the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) provided new insights and guidance related to their proposed regulatory processes for hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill. I will summarize these agency statements below, and give some context for what hemp and CBD businesses can expect in the near term. USDA The USDA posted a webpage titled Hemp Production Program (“Program Update”). The 2018…

Earlier this week, I wrote about how hemp businesses should not yet rely on the 2018 Farm Bill to protect them from their products being seized. This is because although Section 10114 of the 2018 Farm Bill prohibits states from interfering with the interstate transport of hemp and hemp products, that protection is limited to hemp that was cultivated in accordance with Section 10113 of the 2018 Farm Bill. At this time, full compliance with…

Back in September 2018, I wrote about how important it was for hemp businesses to carefully plan the routes they would use to ship hemp and hemp products, including hemp-derived CBD. This is because some states are hostile towards hemp and do not recognize a difference between hemp and marijuana. My article was written prior to the passage of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (“2018 Farm Bill”), which expanded federal law to cover a…

This post is part two of two on how New York is regulating CBD.  On Monday, I wrote about the New York City Department of Health’s (“DOH”) recent crackdown on Hemp-CBD in food and how it was consistent with the New York State Department of Agriculture’s (“Department”) FAQs on hemp-derived CBD (“Hemp CBD”). In summary, the Department’s FAQs state that any Hemp-CBD product sold in New York state must be labeled and manufactured as a…

This post is part one of two on how the State of New York is regulating CBD.  Last week, New York City’s Department of Health (“DOH”) quarantined a number of edible products that contained hemp-derived CBD (“Hemp-CBD”) and announced that Hemp-CBD would not be allowed in food products in the City. Eater first broke the story, but the crackdown made national news with the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NBC,…