Legal CBD is good for you like Vitamin C, and is also good for the economy
Professional boxer and former kickboxer Chris Algieri on UFC teaming up with Aurora Cannabis to study the effects of CBD on ahtletes and his upcoming fight at Madison Square Garden.
There’s no disputing that cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive cannabinoid, is everywhere right now - in your toothpaste, hair products and even infused in your coffee. You can buy many CBD products in drugstores across the country and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) even changed its rules this week to allow passengers to bring some CBD oil on airplanes.
It’s not just popular or trendy though, it’s lucrative too. According to the Brightfield Group’s annual report on the cannabis industry, the CBD market was worth $591 million in 2018. It is expected to reach $1.2 billion in 2019. (In 2017, the CBD market was at just $367 million, it saw a $224 million increase in just one year.)
This growth comes as less of a surprise in 2019 as the U.S. Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (also known as the 2018 Farm Bill) legalized industrial hemp. Since then, certainly CBD is making an impact on the economy, as well as within the cannabis industry.
This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a public forum to get input on regulation and expanded federal access. With speakers from several different facets of the CBD industry, the FDA is looking to obtain “scientific data and information about the safety, manufacturing, product quality, marketing, labeling and sale of products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds.”
Now that hemp and its constituents, including CBD, are federally legal, it’s time for the FDA to decide on marketing guidelines and rules. In our opinion, the FDA should consider CBD as a dietary supplement, similar to Vitamin C, because it supports a major self-regulatory system in the human body, the endocannabinoid system (ECS). This is key to regulation of body temperature as well as pain and inflammation.
Public demand will push Congress to act outside of the FDA’s jurisdiction if action isn’t taken soon. The FDA oversees dietary supplements via the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) however, states are taking it upon themselves to carve out a pathway for regulation of CBD as a dietary supplement and food ingredient.
For example, California has already pushed Bill AB 228 through the California Assembly Committee on Health, which allows for CBD to be sold as both a dietary supplement and food ingredient.
Educating the public on the benefits of CBD and what quality, authentic botanical CBD looks like can only improve this booming industry and steer the conversation in the direction of Vitamin C, versus some kind of market-saturated “moonshine” with limited science and no quality assurance.
Dr. Stuart Titus, CEO and President of Medical Marijuana Inc. is a 10-year veteran of the cannabis industry. Titus helped the company expand exponentially over the past decade, becoming the first hemp-derived CBD company in the U.S. to legally sell across state lines and international borders. The company is also the first to legally import its CBD products in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.
John W. Huemoeller II, CEO of AXIM Biotechnologies has more than 35 years of experience in investment banking, finance, sales and marketing. Beginning his career as an investment advisor in 1982, Huemoeller has registered with various state insurance boards as well as with the Chicago Board of Trade as a commodities broker. He has extensive experience in stocks, bonds, commodities, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts and private placement transactions.