Democrat Senator Introduces Bill to Give FDA Oversight of CBD Safety Standards

A new bill could make it easier for the federal government to regulate legal cannabis products and prevent them from being sold to Americans under the age of 21.

Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat of Oregon) introduced new legislation on Wednesday, called the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act.

The bill would make it illegal to sell products containing intoxicating cannabinoids such as THC to minors and adults in the U.S. under the age of 21.

The bill also calls on the Food and Drug Administration and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Trade Bureau to develop rules for testing and labeling legal adult-use cannabis products.

“Marijuana prohibition has never kept marijuana out of the hands of children,” the bill says. “Strong regulation can provide consumers with a safe, reliable option while deterring unregulated markets and prohibiting dangerous products.”

Congress legalized hemp, or marijuana, containing less than 0.3 percent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the compound primarily responsible for the plant’s psychoactive effects — in the 2018 Farm Bill.

However, the bill did not provide a regulatory framework for the plant-based product that could exempt it from testing and packaging requirements.

This gives children easy access to hemp products containing THC, such as CBD gummies or vaporizers.

Concerns about minors’ access to intoxicating THC products prompted California to issue an emergency ban on cannabis products containing any amount of THC earlier this week, a move that comes less than three weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom temporarily banned the products.

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