Waiting for Chuck to introduce his bill, especially after seeing the excitement generated by mere chatter of the prospects of MJ Legalization earlier this year, hasn’t been easy — but if it resembles the STATES Act and is more of a MJ Decriminalization + Cannabis (MJ, Hemp, CBD) Banking Legalization bill, then the prospects of passing this Senate are certainly there
And I think that’s the kind of bill we’ll see, because a more liberal MJ Legalization bill similar to the House’s version just doesn’t have enough support to pass the more conservative Senate in 2021
How quickly cosponsors line up behind the Senate’s bill will provide some data to predict the prospects of its passage
The really nice thing about Chuck’s bill is that the fallback option of passing SAFE Banking and federally legalizing all cannabis banking, so every MJ, Hemp and CBD company can access banking and an investor base with much deeper pockets, is always there — and SAFE Banking has some real support amongst Senate Repubs (already 8 cosponsors) this time around, so its prospects look pretty good right now, with 12-15 Republican votes a distinct possibility, more than enough to overcome any filibuster
As for CBD, we have the opposite setup, with the House’s CBD Legalization bill being the more conservative one and the Senate’s CBD Legalization bill being more liberal
The difference between MJ and Hemp/CBD is that MJ products are only available at dispensaries, whereas Hemp/CBD products can be sold in any store
Dispensaries are heavily regulated and really set up to screen out minors — retail stores, convenience stores, supermarkets and gas stations, where Hemp/CBD products can be sold, are a totally different ballgame
This is why FDA and many members of Congress are strongly opposed to the idea of legalizing CBD products that contain THC — there is no getting around the fact that there are safety risks associated with the psychoactivity of THC, as well as its effects on motor coordination
As a result, it’s highly unlikely that Full Spectrum CBD will make it in the final version of any Congressional legislation that legalizes CBD Products in 2021
So that leaves us with CBD Isolate and Broad Spectrum CBD as the formulations that have a legitimate chance at being legalized
In terms of safety, which is an important issue for FDA and Congress, there is far more data on CBD Isolate
In terms of standardization of product content, which the FDA prefers, CBD Isolate can be produced consistently batch after batch, whereas Broad Spectrum CBD cannot as it’s really a veritable soup of cannabinoids with every batch being unique — there is no consistency there — in addition, hemp can be bred to produce higher amounts of the cannabinoids with far less safety data than CBD (CBG, CBN, CBC, etc), which is another safety hurdle for Broad Spectrum that isn’t there for CBD Isolate
In the end, I think there are two compromises between the House and Senate versions of CBD Legalization that are most likely to occur
CBD Isolate being legalized for use as a Dietary Supplement and Food/Beverage Additive
CBD Isolate and Broad Spectrum CBD being legalized for use as Dietary Supplements
There is more money in CBD-infused Foods & Beverages than anything else, and because the Food & Beverage industry has a lot more financial clout than the Dietary Supplement industry, it has greater lobbying power as well
So I continue to believe that the more likely outcome is CBD Isolate Legalization in Dietary Supplements, Foods and Beverages
There is one other thing besides legislation to federally legalize CBD that could really open up the national CBD industry — the FDA releasing its policy on Enforcement Discretion for CBD Products, which would be tantamount to CBD Legalization
So that’s definitely worthy of keeping an eye on, though there hasn’t been much chatter recently about a timeline for its publication date
Sleek
