Leafy Lunacy

Posted on November 16, 2022 View all news

By Joe Tilton

An industry is surfacing to take advantage of rumor and ignorance around marihuana. It’s CBD oil.

Since last-week’s publication, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finished a hearing on this popular product. FDA’s findings are not making traditional media, apparently for fear it will anger the emerging marijuana industry. Another reason is big money behind pot wants you to feel confident about using “stuff” from hemp so you will graduate to the big-money product, THC, the hallucinogen part of the marijuana plant.

With a scientific view, which is the charge of the FDA, emerging information is finally being disclosed as to what it actually is. The official report begins, “After ten hours of testimony about cannabidiol (CBD) from more than 100 stakeholders, two things are clear: The American public has a high desire for CBD products, and too many CBD manufacturers are delivering shoddy goods.”

The report continues: “On Friday, FDA Acting Commissioner Ned Sharpless kicked off the agency’s historic first-ever public hearing on CBD by noting that, ‘We’ve seen an explosion of interest in products including CBD, [but] there is much we don’t know.’ There’s plenty we do know, however, and many of those facts were aired at the hearing. Here’s what was discovered:

  1.  There’s too much junk in the CBD market. The current CBD market is flooded with sketchy players selling junk products. A number of stakeholders offered lab data showing that bottles of ‘300 mg CBD oil’ actually contained 22mg, or no CBD at all. These are the Wild West days of CBD sales, and a number of companies are taking advantage of the absence of regulation by pumping crap into the market. They can manufacture at a deep discount and offer cheaper products than genuine high-quality CBD makers, who invest in top-shelf extraction labs and establish good manufacturing practices. FDA regulation of CBD is almost certain to contain quality assurance requirements. Can the good actors stay in business long enough to be saved by the shakeout?
  1. Consumers have no way of knowing what’s legitimate. Some are peddling snake oil or olive oil or repackaged dextromethorphan (cough medicine), which is much cheaper over the counter. To avoid ‘too much’ regulation to make CBD oil sales legitimate, one stakeholder asked the FDA to ‘regulate, but not too tightly.’
  2. Many still have no clue what CBD is. Apparently, neither does the industry. Are you buying repackaged cough syrup, olive oil or the real thing? You won’t know nor can you find out.
  1. The FDA’s first duty is to safeguard public health. What about adverse drug interactions, negative side effects. If it happens to you, the FDA wants to hear from you.
  1. Anecdotal evidence doesn’t play well with FDA. So many claims have been made, such as treatment for Dravet’s syndrome or veterans with PTSD. Such stories have caused even Michigan to approve what they shouldn’t have. Policy at the FDA is based on scientific evidence. While the public is buying the snake-oil claims, the FDA asked for evidence. It hasn’t happen.

Additionally, we have found that 70-percent of CBD products are mislabeled and labs are misrepresenting product contents and contaminants. Sugar pills are much less expensive for placebo effect, the only apparent, scientific results from CBD.

In the midst of the CBD oil hearings, Canada is going all in on marijuana. Alberta lifted any ban on licensing new cannabis stores. Illinois’ Governor and Legislature is talking about legalizing pot, which would surround Michigan and invite increased mafia influence. What a convenience to the corrupt Government there. And, it’s been learned how Oregon has a seven-year supply of THC-heavy marijuana if not one more plant is planted or harvested. We already know; “everybody’s getting into the business,” based on rumors of $70,000 per acre profit from hemp. Will this silliness end?

Yes, we’ve gone mad. Will the insanity end when society collapses from a THC stupor, or when we wise up?

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