Hemp and the 2018 Farm Bill

How Hemp and the 2018 Farm Bill effects FDA-regulated items

The 2018 Farm Bill explicitly preserved FDA’s authority to regulate products including cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds under the FD&C Act as well as section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act).

FDA deals with products having cannabis or cannabis-derived substances as it does any other FDA-regulated items– implying they’re subject to the exact same authorities as well as demands as FDA-regulated products having any other substance. This is true no matter whether the marijuana or cannabis-derived substances are categorized as hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The 2018 Farm Bill allowed CBD and hemp businesses to operate legally with banking services and tax deductibles, but FDA still considers the products subject to the same authorities and requirements as any other FDA-regulated products.

As a result cannabinoids in hemp such as CBD, CBG and CBN became legal and widely available. Soon thereafter derivatives of the hemp flower CBD were created which having come from hemp were considered legal. Indeed the The Court ruled that AK’s Delta 8 products are legal under the 2018 Farm Bill, as long as they contain no more than 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis. This limit allows companies to manufacture and market a range of hemp and cannabis-based products, while ensuring they remain compliant with the law.

These include the psychoactive cannabinoids such as Delta 8 and Delta 9 and 10 THC as well as THCA, THCO and THCV and HHC. New cannabinoids are being created from CBD. Some states however maintain that the use of these is illegal in their states.

Learn more about the Farm Bill here »