In a new statement this week, the United States Department of Agriculture updated its approach to interstate hemp transportation for products made and distributed legally.
By acknowledging that CBD and hemp are no longer filed under the Drug Enforcement Agency’s list of controlled substances, the USDA’s recent press release also affirmed that among other things, state governments are not permitted to interrupt the transport of hemp and CBD.
Earlier this year in the wake of the 2018 Farm Bill which reclassified hemp and its CBD derivatives as agricultural products, but state-level confusion has been common, with plenty of accidental seizures and other mistakes made by local and state police who mistook hemp flowers for marijuana buds or didn’t understand the update to the law from December.
Now, Tuesday’s USDA statement is showing that not only do these protections occur in states that have passed laws legalizing CBD in accordance with the farm bill, but also within states where the hemp being transported is legal and moving across interstate borders. [1]
The new rulings were based on the USDA’s Office of General Counsel, which provided a legal review of current best practices and laws on the books.
The executive summary of the update can be found with the link below. [1] Readers can also check out the full text of the announcement from Tuesday’s release thanks to Marijuana Moment’s Scribd upload here. [2]
The announcement from the USDA is exciting and will hopefully make hemp industry participants more safe and secure as they pursue their business, but it isn’t the only federal development to pay attention to lately.
The TSA also recently announced they would allow hemp and CBD products to pass through their airport security checkpoints, even though they said products that surpassed a THC limit would still be referred to local police. This opens a dangerous back door to their statement, as they wouldn’t test for the compound themselves, and current false-positives may continue.
Read more about the recent development at TSA on the Nothing But Hemp blog. [3]
The Food and Drug Administration is also in the middle of a public comment period on hemp, another example where changes at the federal level are coming to a head in coming weeks.
The public comment period ends July 2, so be sure to let them know how CBD use has improved your life and why access to affordable, non-prescription supplements and products is so necessary across America.
You can read all about the best ways to make your FDA comment with the link below. [4]
The FDA will take action based on previous hearing data, USDA listening sessions and public input to decide how best to proceed in regulating the hemp derivatives in food and drink items.
Sources
[1] https://www.ams.usda.gov/content/legal-opinion-authorities-hemp-production
[2] https://www.scribd.com/document/411757634/USDA-Hemp-Memo#from_embed
