Charlotte's Web Holdings Inc (CWBHF)

[CornellEngineer]

Passing the Farm Bill is just the first step. Odds are things will be pretty choppy for a while and it won't all be smooth sailing...

https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/regulatory/congress-releases-farm-bill-report-would-end-era-hemp-prohibition

“There will still be the Barney Fifes [i.e., local law enforcement officials targeting local hemp retailers] but if you look at what we’ve been able to do, we’ve gone from 18 Barney Fife states to 4 or 5 of them,” said John Ryan, chief operating officer of Ananda Hemp.

Despite expectations of diminished opposition from the states, the hemp industry still faces a significant hurdle at the federal level. FDA continues to assert CBD can’t be sold in conventional foods or dietary supplements. Its position is tied to clinical drug trials conducted by GW Pharmaceuticals plc, whose CBD medicine, Epidiolex, was approved by FDA in June for treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) or Dravet syndrome.

In an article written this month for the National Law Review, attorneys Ian Stewart, James Kloss and Neil Willner of Wilson Elser said the positions taken by the states and the federal government has “created an absurd result.”

“CBD now may be manufactured and distributed in many states with few restrictions, but CBD may be added to food products in many states only if it is derived from marijuana,” the lawyers wrote. “It is difficult to logically reconcile this ‘schizophrenic’ state of the law.”

Industry lawyers and hemp companies have openly contested the agency’s stance on CBD. FDA’s position—expressed in a Q&A and warning letters—has neither been made formal through a rulemaking nor tested in litigation.

Justin Prochnow, a partner in Denver with Greenberg Traurig LLP, cautioned the Farm Bill doesn’t affect FDA’s position whatsoever.

Nonetheless, following passage of the seminal legislation, the lawyer anticipates many companies will roll “the dice” and place products on the U.S. market, testing whether FDA will take more aggressive enforcement action beyond its strategy to date: warning letters.

Could be FUBAR for a while until things shake out.