The Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) had a busy Monday this week. On November 25, the agency issued warning letters to 15 businesses selling hemp-derived CBD (“Hemp-CBD”) products as unapproved drugs. The FDA also released updated consumer guidance on Hemp-CBD. Warning Letters The recent batch of warning letters appear to turn on the marketing of Hemp-CBD
As we have previously discussed, the sale and marketing of hemp-infused cannabidiol (“Hemp-CBD”) cosmetics, such as salves, lotions and creams (collectively “Topicals”), present the lowest risk for businesses wishing to enter this booming industry. We have quite a few clients pursuing this path, from small-batch manufacturers to national retail outlets. Generally, a Topical may be
We’ve written extensively on this blog about industrial hemp-derived CBD products, including CBD comestibles, CBD pet products, CBD in alcohol, and CBD topicals. Of all these categories of goods, the CBD industry seems to have reached a consensus that CBD topical products present the lowest level of risk for businesses, hence companies like CVS, Walgreens,
I recently attended two events in Utah headlined by the United Natural Products Alliance (“UNPA”) where its President, Loren Israelsen, discussed the voluminous public comments received by the FDA in response its latest round of questions regarding how over-the-counter cannabis extracts like CBD should be regulated. Israelsen provided numerous takeaways for UNPA members and their
According to recent reporting, pet industry spending is expected to reach $96 billion by 2020 with CBD as one of its fastest growing sections. Following the enactment of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (“2018 Farm Bill”), there has been a huge interest in the use of hemp-derived cannabidiol (“Hemp-CBD”) for our furry friends. Yet,
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued warning letters to three unnamed companies that advertised their CBD-infused products as treatments or cure for serious medical conditions. These warning letters are nothing new. As we have explained before, making medical claims about CBD-infused products is the perfect way of falling under the scrutiny of federal
The last few days we’ve seen a flurry of activity related to smokable cannabis products. It’s been tough to keep track of everything that’s gone on, so today I’m going to take a page out of legendary Italian director Sergio Leone‘s book and break down the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in all things
Recently I wrote about the two dominant global MLM essential oil companies based in Utah: Young Living and doTERRA. Last month Young Living announced it is entering the CBD oil market, but doTERRA publicly stated on its website that it will not (yet) follow suit, even though everyone and their dog are clamoring for CBD
Today let’s talk about Curaleaf and the trifecta of very bad things that befell the company over a recent two-week span. Then, let’s see what we can learn from this brutal sequence. To recap, between July 22 and August 5, Curaleaf: 1) was hit with an FDA warning letter for “illegally selling” CBD products and
Just a few weeks ago, Curaleaf Holdings (“Curaleaf”) announced that it would pay $875 million, mostly in stock, to acquire a Chicago based cannabis company, Grassroots. (See here.) This followed news in May that Curaleaf had reached a nearly $1 billion all-stock deal with one of Oregon’s biggest cannabis companies, Cura Partners, Inc. (See here).
