What global trends are the suspension of hemp liberalization in California demonstrating
The Ukrainian market, "supporting the most negative trends of the West", is also undergoing a stage in which national pharmacological companies are already trying to do the same, driving consumers of hemp products to pharmacies, not providing the opportunity to use the therapeutic properties of hemp in ordinary and reasonably accessible to consumers goods and products.
The worldwide positive dynamics in the consumption of hemp breeding products inspires optimism among manufacturers of the corresponding products, which California companies related to hemp production would like to take full advantage of. The news that amendments to local legislation regarding the legalization of CBD of goods aimed at the use of drug-free cannabinoids in food, drinks and cosmetic preparations was artificially suspended was negatively reflected primarily among manufacturers who hoped to expand the potential sales market.
The prepared draft regulatory act states that “food, drinks and cosmetics do not lose their quality characteristics due to the inclusion of hemp derivatives”, including extracts such as CBD. The provisions of the proposed bill would abolish the conditions for the consumption of hemp products, which was introduced in 2018 by the California Department of Health, which stated that cannabidiol obtained from hemp plants should not be added to food. The Senate Appropriations Committee “wrapped” the above bill because it did not agree with many of the provisions set out therein. According to the current procedure, senators must finalize the draft law and put it to the vote again, however, according to most analysts of the American hemp market, consideration of this regulatory act has been postponed until at least 2020.
One of the authors of the bill, a member of the Cecilia Aguiar-Curry Democratic Assembly (Cecilia Aguiar-Curry), emphasized that after the bill was blocked, the state’s legal access to the health benefits of cannabis products was limited and under the “blow” the manufacturers and processors of plants and the business associated with the production of CBD.
“This California Department of Health position has put our staff in a more than weird position. It turns out that adult consumers can go to a licensed dispensary for the distribution of marijuana and legally purchase psychoactive hemp, however, they can not legally purchase non-psychoactive products that include non-drug hemp ingredients that can be used both for therapeutic and industrial purposes. Without a bill, we do not have any California standards or consumer protection measures that would regulate this market. This puts us at a disadvantage in comparison with our competitors, and our consumers are as limited as possible in their choice, ”Agiar-Curry said in a statement.
According to Michael Bronstein, co-founder of the American Trade Association, the California debate on the adoption of the regulatory framework for the legalization of derivatives of hemp processing, in particular CBD products, is not unique at the federal level, at which similar discussions are held on the regulation of the legal framework for the use of cannabis products containing drug-free cannabinoids. It is not surprising that the national confusion in these matters creates a desire at the regional level to somehow resolve the “acute angles” of the sphere of consumption and production of CBD products, and this, in turn, runs into the opposition of other “influence groups” that defend their own interests.
Producers and consumers of food, cosmetics, and other cannabis products containing drug-free cannabinoids hope that government officials will find a compromise solution to the situation in the state. In the end, a regulatory framework will be created that regulates the legal work of this sector of modern hemp breeding, which will ultimately lead to multimillion-dollar revenues to budgets of various levels.
Commentary of the Ukrainian Technical Hemp Association
Today, in different states of the United States, by analogy with the EU, where the "New Products" Directives are adopted, pharmaceutical companies are trying to influence the ban on the use of cannabidiol and other drug-free cannabinoids in food or cosmetics by influencing government officials in health care, thereby restraining healthy competition in the market for hemp products with a trace of cannabinoids. The Ukrainian market, "supporting the most negative trends of the West", is also undergoing a stage in which national pharmacological companies are already trying to do the same, driving consumers of hemp products to pharmacies, not providing the opportunity to use the therapeutic properties of hemp in ordinary and reasonably accessible to consumers goods and products. This is clearly seen in the recently initiated lobbying company, aimed at amending the legislation of our country, carried out in the interests of exclusively foreign pharmaceutical companies, “under the flag” of care for Ukrainian patients.
On the other hand, for breeding companies in our country that market technical hemp varieties of a therapeutic nature, a hopeless situation is created in which the use of the above exclusive varieties of plants that do not fall under any restrictions on the part of the EU or the USA and at the same time have significant therapeutic effect, it will not be profitable to grow in our country, so they will be sold abroad and will come to the territory of Ukraine packaged under the auspices of banners total pharmaceutical brands, while having a significantly higher retail price.