As you are well aware, the primary policy challenging facing the hemp-derived CBD industry is guidance issued by FDA, opining that it is illegal for CBD to be introduced into interstate commerce as a food additive or dietary supplement. While the FDA has announced that it will unveil its timetable for action this fall, it could be many months before they issue a formal regulation.

Two of our hemp champions in Congress, Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and James Comer (R-KY) have joined forces to do something about it. And they need your help to rally other Congressmen to join the fight.

Yesterday, Reps. Pingree and Comer sent all members of the US House of Representatives a “Dear Colleague” letter, asking them to co-sign a letter that urges the FDA to issue formal “enforcement discretion” on the sale of hemp CBD products. This would mean that the FDA would formally stand down on any enforcement of its troublesome anti-CBD guidance. Such a policy would remove significant risk from the sale of CBD products.

Please email your Congressman TODAY, urging him or her to co-sign the Pingree/Comer FDA letter.

As always, we have made it super easy for you to contact your Representative. Simply click onto our online portal, with your email and zip code, and a message will automatically populate to be sent to your Congressman. Please feel free to personalize the message to explain why hemp CBD is important to you, your family, your company, or your farm.

This morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – after consulting closely with the US Hemp Roundtable -- has introduced legislation that would require the FDA to issue formal “enforcement discretion” on the sale of hemp CBD products.

This is a Big Frickin’ Deal. And we need your help to get this passed.

As discussed more fully last week, a primary policy challenge facing the hemp CBD industry has been FDA’s guidance that it is illegal for CBD to be introduced into interstate commerce as a food additive or dietary supplement. While the FDA has announced that it will unveil its timetable to take action toward full legalization this fall, it could be many months before they issue a formal regulation.

Today, the US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture will “mark up” language submitted by Senator McConnell that would require the FDA to formally stand down on any enforcement of its troublesome anti-CBD guidance. Specifically, the language (linked here) would require FDA to:
-Within 90 days, provide Congress a report outlining its efforts to develop an enforcement discretion policy on hemp CBD;
-Within 120 days, issue its formal enforcement discretion policy on hemp CBD;
-Keep the enforcement discretion policy in effect until the agency has implemented its final regulatory process; and
-Ensure that going forward, CBD manufacturers would be able share safety data through existing FDA notification procedures to be fully compliant with federal law and policy.

In the short run, the McConnell language would help lift the current regulatory cloud that’s been discouraging financial institutions to work with CBD companies, and that’s encouraged some local government officials to suggest that CBD is illegal in their state. In the long run, it would set forward a fair and expeditious path for hemp CBD products to be formally recognized as safe and legal as a matter of federal law.

The bill will be marked up by the full Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, and could go to the full Senate soon.

That’s why we need you TODAY to email your US Senators to encourage them to support McConnell’s language requiring FDA to stand down on hemp CBD.

Please use our online portal to email your Senator today to support the McConnell plan. And while you are there, please encourage your Representative to sign onto the Pingree/Comer letter to the FDA discussed here last week.