OPINION: I don’t go to a bootlegger for cough medicine. Why is Canada still restricting CBD health products?

Cannabidiol (CBD) — the non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in both the marijuana and hemp plants — is all the rage these days. Its proponents tout it as a miracle cure for everything from inflammation, to pain, insomnia, seizures and anxiety. As a result, we’ve witnessed an explosion of CBD-infused products as of late. The only problem: in this country, at least, most of them are completely illegal.

One could excuse Canadians from thinking otherwise, however. Products such as CBD-infused liquids for electronic cigarettes, teas, massage oils, pills and pet treats have been found on store shelves throughout the country.

In the United States, too, hardly a day goes by when some company doesn’t announce a new CBD-based product. Cafés are adding it to coffee, bars are introducing CBD cocktails and retailers are stocking CBD-laced topical creams, beverages and more.

 

 

The growth of CBD products south of the border came as a result of the passage of last year’s Farm Bill, which legalized industrial hemp production. But even in the U.S., CBD products still exist in a legal grey area.

Indeed, even though the Farm Bill allows farmers to grow hemp, it does not allow it to be grown as a commercial crop. The importation of hemp-based products is permitted, so long as they’re not derived from the plant’s leaves or flowers, which contain the CBD. This means that many companies likely aren’t using legally sourced cannabidiol.

The other problem is that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which wants all food and pharmaceutical products containing the substance to go through a regulatory approval process, has not formalized any rules for CBD products. As a result, a number of cities and states have started cracking down on them.

Nevertheless, with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators pushing the FDA to remedy the situation and many companies investing heavily in new products, we’re likely to see the continued growth of the CBD market there. This puts Canada far behind its neighbours to the south because, even though growing hemp has been legal in this country since 1998, the government still treats CBD, which won’t get people high, the same as THC, which does.

Canadian hemp farmers aren’t even allowed to extract the CBD from their crops — that is the sole purview of licensed cannabis producers. This prevents farmers from fully monetizing their crops and limits the supply of CBD.

 

 

At the moment, the only legal CBD products in Canada are high-CBD cannabis strains, as well as oil-based tinctures, gel caps and sprays sold to medical patients through licensed producers, or to recreational users through provincially licensed retailers. Other products, such as foods and topical creams, will be legalized along with marijuana edibles, which is expected in the fall. But even then, they will be subject to strict regulations and only sold in stores that are licensed to sell cannabis.

Although there’s some scientific evidence of the health benefits of CBD, it has certainly not been shown to be the cure-all that the Whole Foods crowd seems to think it is. Nonetheless, when I injured my rib recently, I wanted to test out its purported anti-inflammation and pain-relief benefits.

Unfortunately, the Ontario Cannabis Store, which is still the only legal distributor of cannabis products in the province, did not have any CBD tinctures or capsules in stock. I was forced to go to a grey market pot shop, where they sold me pills that look perfectly legit at first blush, until I realized that there was no French to be found anywhere on the package.

 

In the United States, too, hardly a day goes by when some company doesn’t announce a new CBD-based product.

 

I would have preferred to buy a legal product that I could be confident contained the amount of CBD that was listed on the package. But strict regulations mean that such products are either illegal, or in short supply.

What the government fails to realize is that the market for CBD — which is predominantly used in beauty, as well as health and wellness, products — is completely different than the one for THC-based products. Forcing people to go to a cannabis store to buy facial creams and bottled water is akin to making people stop by a liquor store to get soda pop and toothpaste. Nor should people be forced to jump through more hoops to buy a mild, non-psychoactive pain reliever than they would to buy Aspirin. These are products that make more sense in grocery stores and pharmacies, not places where psychotropic drugs are sold.

Indeed, we may not have much evidence for the health benefits of CBD, but it has not been shown to be harmful. And given that grocery and health food stores throughout the country already carry an array of plant-based herbs and compounds, many of which sport dubious health claims, there’s little reason why CBD products shouldn’t be sold alongside them.

Continuing to regulate CBD the same as THC will only hurt Canadian companies and consumers. Manufacturers will be severely limited in how innovative they can be in terms of coming up with new products, and the fact that health and beauty products will not be sold alongside similar products in supermarkets and pharmacies will limit how big the market can grow. This will lead to fewer choices, and more hassles, for Canadian consumers.

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