On February 4, 2021 Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) re-introduced bipartisan legislation that would protect public health by providing legal clarity in the cannabidiol (CBD) product marketplace. Re-introduced in the 117th Congress as HR 841, the Hemp and Hemp-derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2021 directs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use its authority and resources to set a clear regulatory framework for hemp and hemp-derived CBD and assure consumer protection.
A growing number of Americans view hemp and hemp derived CBD as a way to improve health and wellbeing, driving high consumer demand and a proliferation of CBD-containing products on the marketplace. While the 2018 Farm Bill changed the law to allow hemp farming, regulatory uncertainty remains about the inclusion of hemp and hemp derived CBD in dietary supplements. This lack of regulatory clarity along with insufficient oversight around hemp and hemp derived CBD exposes consumers to potentially unsafe products and lack of consistency in product quality.
This legislation would allow hemp and hemp derived CBD to be legally marketed in dietary supplements so long as manufacturers comply with new dietary ingredient requirements and other Food and Drug Act dietary supplement policies. This pathway for hemp and hemp derived CBD products to be legally marketed, would put in place necessary safeguards to protect public health. A legal hemp and hemp derived CBD pathway would also provide much needed certainty to hemp farmers.
AHPA's President Michael McGuffin offered his thoughts on the legislation, “There remains an absence of substantive progress on FDA’s reported attention to creating a lawful pathway for CBD, and a similar lack of clarification from the agency that simple hemp products, such as tinctures and extracts, should be regulated the same as other herbal supplements. This legislation will fill those gaps, and we see it as important for ensuring that consumers will be able to find hemp and CBD products that are clearly subject to FDA’s enforcement of the robust regulations that apply to all other herbal supplements. The bill is also aligned with the position AHPA first adopted almost two years ago to recommend that manufacturers and marketers of hemp and CBD dietary supplements comply with all of the federal regulations that apply to such operations for other supplement products.”
AHPA, as part of a coalition of 18 dietary supplement, hemp industry, and hemp farming associations, is proud to support the Hemp and Hemp derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2021 and urges Congress to consider including the bill in a legislative vehicle as soon as possible.
-
The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) is the national trade association and voice of the herbal and botanical products industry. AHPA is comprised of more than 300 domestic and foreign companies doing business as growers, processors, manufacturers, and marketers of herbs and herbal products, including foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and non-prescription drugs. Founded in 1982, AHPA's mission is to promote the responsible commerce of herbal products. Website: www.ahpa.org.