SUMMER TIMEFRAME FOR FDA WORKING GROUP TO PROVIDE LEGISLATIVE PATHWAYS FOR CONGRESS TO FORMALLY LEGALIZE CBD-INFUSED FOOD & BEVERAGES
Several things are starting to come into focus vis a vis the particular pathway forward for CBD-infused beverages in the newly legal Hemp and Hemp-CBD era
The FDA has made it increasingly clear that it wants Congress to deal with this issue legislatively
The primary reason for this is because without Congress taking the reins, it would take the FDA 3-4 years to develop its final recommendations, and nobody is willing to wait around that long — not Congress, not the food and beverage industry, not consumers — and the best thing about this is that the FDA fully understands that waiting that long is not a feasible option and has now clearly expressed that it doesn’t want to stand in the way of CBD-infused food & beverages
The FDA has acknowledged that Congress’ intent with the legalization of Hemp and Hemp-derived CBD, along with their complete removal from the Schedule of Controlled Substances, was to fully legalize the production and sale of Hemp-derived CBD in all of its forms — topical and ingestible, as an oily tincture and capsule, and as an ingredient in food and beverages
The idea that the FDA and Congress are engaged in some type of battle is simply wrong
Congress has already won the debate, and the FDA is no longer remaining silent on this issue and allowing this period of limbo to continue indefinitely
Since the FDA personnel are the experts on pharmaceutical drugs, dietary supplements and food safety, they are the proper agency to develop the specific framework (CBD concentration, dose, serving size, recommended daily allowance, etc) for permitting CBD into the ingestible supply of supplements, food and beverages
The FDA can pass on specific numerical and procedural guidelines to Congress, who can then formulate these recommendations into legislation
The USDA has already gone on record with an expectation for final rules and regulations by the Fall of 2019 in order for everything to be in place before the 2020 planting season, so this new timeline just provided by the FDA of passing their final recommendations to Congress sometime this summer will allow Congress to pass legislation in the Fall as well — the reason why these 2 timelines for the USDA and FDA regulations need to line up is because the USDA is essentially governing the growing of Hemp, whereas the FDA is governing the processing of Hemp into final products — farmers won’t feel comfortable growing tons of hemp unless they know they will be able to sell it to processors, and in order for the processors to feel comfortable buying hemp from farmers, they also need to know that they will be able to sell the processed Hemp and CBD to the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industry — in turn, the CPG industry won’t feel comfortable buying from the processors until they know they can sell their finished products to wholesalers and retailers, who won’t feel comfortable buying from the CPG players until they know they can sell these products to consumers
So there is a strongly linked chain from farmer to processor to manufacturer of CPGs to wholesaler/retailer to consumer
The chain won’t work unless all of the links are functioning as a unit
So both USDA and FDA final rules and regulations will need to be in place for the Hemp-CBD economy to flourish
And because America is so mercilessly capitalistic, all of the players in this chain want to get this done ASAP
Money talks and bullshit walks
So the USDA, the FDA and Congress will get this done before the 2020 planting season
That’s America for you
So how will that impact the timeline for a mania?
I am currently working on a variety of different models, as there are a number of possibilities that make sense
But one thing I will say right now is that similar to what transpired in Canada in late 2017, I see the Hemp & CBD mania occurring in 2019 well before the final regulations are in place
This Spring remains a strong possibility — the next 90 days is a long period of time in a sector as flammable as Hemp-CBD — and as we have already witnessed on multiple occasions — January 2014 and September 2016 in America, and November 2017 in Canada — manias can ignite literally overnight (with no warning and no anticipatory runup)
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