California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed an important Bill-Assembly Bill No.45 (AB-45), and effective immediately. It established a clear regulatory framework for the manufacture and sale of industrial hemp products in California.
Cannabidiol (CBD), derived from hemp, has been legalized at the federal level with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, but federal and state agencies have been slow to regulate products derived from industrial hemp, including CBD. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to issue any regulatory guidelines and still treats CBD as a drug, making it illegal to add to products such as food and drinks without FDA’s approval. The most important impact of AB-45 is that it significantly reduces the risk of violations for CBD-related businesses, while providing a regulatory framework for the rest of the departments to follow.
In 2021, the global wave of legalization of industrial hemp continues to ferment, and the overseas market is still in heat. According to researches, the global industrial cannabis market is expected to reach $10 billion by 2024. As a fast-growing international market, North America is still the largest industrial cannabis market in the world. Reports showed that Europe is expected to overtake North America in the next five years. Emerging markets such as Asia, with a population of more than 4.1 billion, including Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia and India, have shown great potential on growth.
California's opening of industrial hemp products has given a good signal to many hemp industry companies. Many Chinese hemp enterprises are actively looking for strategic partners to carry out cooperation and negotiation in the field of opening policy. At the same time, illegal industrial hemp food posing as snacks in the market is endangering the health of young people. There are illegal industrial hemp snacks on the market in US that are packaged to look like popular brands, California Attorney General David Bonta warned Wednesday. The snacks are sold online or through unlicensed stores in California, enticing the minors to unwittingly consume the illegal industrial hemp that endangers their health.
For instance, one bag of illegal products packaged as cornflakes, contained as much as 600 milligrams of THC, the main ingredient in industrial hemp, far more than the 100 milligrams allowed under California law. In addition, some illegal products contain highly toxic synthetic cannabinoids.
Bonta urged consumers to report any counterfeit food containing illegal industrial hemp to the state government.
