California bans Hemp Derived CBD OIL

Health authorities in California threw a monkey wrench in cannabis industry by prohibiting CBD extracted from industrial hemp instead of psychoactive cannabis. This ban further increases the legal confusion around the cannabinoid and undermines the need for greater understanding by both the state and federal administrators.

Though the press has been mostly uninterested, a statement from Sacramento bureaucrats has potentially broad effects for the cannabis industry — and for the people who depend on CBD as a treatment of wide range of ailments.

On July 6, the California Department of Public Health issued a notice that CBD oil extracted from hemp is restricted in the state. The notice declares that CBD oil extracted from hemp does not fall under the domain of the state's cannabis guidelines.

The update clarifies that the public health division's Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch (MCSB) "manages medical and adult-use produced cannabis items," while “nourishment” items extracted from modern hemp are not secured by MCSB controls. Rather, these items lie beneath the jurisdiction of CDPH-FDB.

Nevertheless, the notice contends that while California will challenge the national government's power with regards to decriminalizing cannabis, it's not aiming to stand against the federal government with regards to hemp. The update states: "Although California currently allows the manufacturing and sales of cannabis products (including edibles), the use of industrial hemp as the source of CBD to be added to food products is prohibited. Until the FDA rules that industrial hemp-derived CBD oil and CBD products can be used as a food or California makes a determination that they are safe to use for human and animal consumption, CBD products are not an approved food, food ingredient, food additive, or dietary supplement."

The distinction between psychoactive cannabis and hemp is an issue of THC content. The government characterizes hemp as cannabis with 0.3 percent THC or less by dry weight. The 2014 government Farm Bill authorized state experimental runs programs for hemp, and 40 of the 50 states presently have characterized industrial hemp as different from cannabis and expelled hindrances to its manufacturing, including California. But, the hemp pilot program of California is regulated by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and not the CDPH or Bureau of Cannabis Control.

Prior to this year, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals maintained the DEA's characterization of CBD as a controlled substance, paying little respect to whether it is extracted from hemp or psychoactive cannabis.