Cannabis/CBD

CV Sciences closes purchase of Elevated Softgels, a manufacturer of encapsulated softgels and tinctures for the supplement and nutrition industry. Captek Softgel starts gummy supplement production at a 60,000-square foot facility.

The European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers, EHPM, is hopeful the upcoming EU elections will trigger action on key issues related to dietary supplements, including novel food authorizations and harmonized vitamin levels.

Where a US hemp product firm stands on whether de-scheduling the botanical as a controlled substance in the 2018 farm bill left a loophole allowing chemically derived and potentially intoxicating cannabinoid strains to qualify could determine whether it agrees with the detour.

Ag committee members in 23 May markup likely to broach topic of delta-9 THC limit for hemp. Since hemp was de-scheduled in 2018, cannabinoids other than delta-9 but with psychoactive effects have become leading sales drivers. “Most states now have legal marijuana programs, they just don't know it,” says cannabis industry attorney.

DEA NPRM to move marijuana from CSA Schedule I to Schedule III says synthetically derived THC “is outside the CSA’s definition of marijuana” and “will remain in Schedule I.”  Synthetically derived THC includes copies of ingredients derived from cannabis plants which qualify as hemp by containing no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC concentration by dry weight and are common in supplements and food available in US.

CBD products produced by Chanelle McCoy Health and Cannaray have been given the green light by the Food Standards Agency's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes allowing them to progress to the final stages of the regulator's lengthy approval process. Meanwhile, the Home Office has changed its policy with regards to THC in CBD, in response to an action brought against it by Jersey Hemp, clearing another barrier to making the UK market compliant. 

Litigation the court agreed to accept for its term beginning in October doesn’t allege CBD in a tincture purchased in 2012 contained an unlawful level of delta-9 THC but contained any THC at all. Also, FDA Commissioner Califf encourages Congress to authorize regulatory pathway for lawful use of CBD and other hemp ingredients in supplements and food.

Without FDA regulatory pathway for hemp’s lawful use in supplements and food, some states are imposing more-stringent regulations while others allow sales of intoxicating ingredients not considered controlled substances as hemp derivatives.

US Cannabis Council says farm bill reauthorization is “key opportunity to tackle the national crisis caused by unregulated intoxicating hemp products” by limiting the variety of hemp derivatives which qualify as de-scheduled.

UK Food Standards Agency proposes shaving a minimum of three months off novel food authorization procedure as part of wider plans to shake-up the process for products like CBD supplements.

Dietary supplements containing unsafe or unauthorized substances were reported to the European Commission by national regulators on around 60 occasions in the first quarter of 2024.

A recent ASA ruling against UK firm Supreme CBD highlights the need to be transparent about influencer marketing, as well as to avoid making any medicinal claims for food supplements. 

Hemp, supplement industry groups say Energy and Commerce hearing is needed on FDA’s “regulation, or lack thereof, of the rapidly growing hemp market.”

UK wellness consumers will be looking for brands that can help improve cognitive function and provide natural energy, support menstrual health and keep them healthy during the aging process in 2024, according to UK health food retailer Holland & Barrett.

The European Food Safety Authority is evaluating new reproductive and developmental toxicity data published since it paused CBD novel food applications last year due to safety concerns, according to food law consultancy, Legal Foods.

The UK Home Office has accepted a suggested 0.05 mg per dose limit for controlled psychoactive substance tetrahydrocannabinol in consumer CBD products, including food supplements. However, remaining questions such as what constitutes a single dose of CBD, when UK manufacturers will be allowed to process raw cannabis, and what testing methods are needed to detect THC levels indicate that the road to compliance is still “long and winding,” argues Canna Consultants.