California is considering new legislation that would establish safety standards for CBD products and prevent distributors and manufacturers from making false claims. California joins at least 23 other states that have introduced or passed legislation regulating CBD as a dietary supplement or food ingredient. California represents the largest market for CBD in the U.S., with estimated sales of $730 million in 2019.

Kyle Turk, director for government affairs for the Natural Products Association (NPA) testified in a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Health on March 10, 2021.

“This is a positive development for consumers in California but ultimately we are going to need clear guidance from the federal government,” said Kyle Turk, NPA director for government relations. “A patchwork of state laws could lead to confusion for consumers and businesses, and we will continue to call for the FDA to set a safe level of daily consumption for CBD.  We look forward to working with regulators in California and across the country on ways to safely regulate CBD.”

Specifically, SB 235 would:

• Require manufacturers of dietary supplements or industrial hemp to demonstrate that all parts of the plant were sourced from a state or country with an established and approved industrial hemp program.

• Prohibit manufacturers and distributors from making false label claims and making health-related statements.

• Require the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Bureau of Cannabis Control to develop a process to share license, registration, cultivar and enforcement information to facilitate compliance and enforcement against unlicensed industrial hemp product and raw extract manufacturers and retailers.

NPA has been asking the FDA to regulate CBD since 2017, has testified on a number of occasions, and has held several meetings with top FDA officials on the issue. NPA also helped craft legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that provides resources so the FDA can perform a health hazard evaluation (HHE) and set a safe level of CBD for consumers to use each day.  The process would follow the same precedent as red yeast rice, which allows a natural product to contain a level of a drug ingredient that the FDA has determined to be safe, according to the association. With the exception of Epidiolex, all CBD products in the U.S. are considered illegal by the federal government.

For more information, visit www.npanational.org.