Last September, Congressmen Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) introduced bill H.R. 8179 that would have removed many of the onerous regulations imposed on hemp and made it subject to all the same regulations as for any other dietary supplement. Unfortunately, the bill never came up for a vote.
Now, those same congressmen are re-introducing the bill. Renamed H.R. 841, aka the Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act of 2021, the bill comes with 12 Democratic and five Republican co-sponsors.
Related: EIHA Releases Update To CBD Position Paper
“It provides the category and all of us that play in that field a legitimate entry point into the mainstream marketplaces that have kept us at bay for years now,” said Josh Hendrix, chief growth officer at Driftless Extracts and Workman’s Relief. “This is a step in the right direction for sure. It's certainly not the final piece of the puzzle but a very important first step for those that are making quality products.
That sentiment is echoed by a longtime supplements trade group, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, which represents large supplements companies that offer guardrails and boundaries circumscribing the “responsible” supplements space.
Julia Gustafson, vice president of government relations for CRN, expressed frustration with the FDA, and hopes that this bill would shift the agency’s thinking around hemp and hemp CBD.
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