The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has proposed amendments to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) for hemp and cannabidiol (CBD) to bring its enforcement into compliance with current laws.
The DEA’s proposed interim final rule modies the agency’s scope of control over cannabis and hemp as laid out in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill).
The four main amendments include:
Adding language stating that “tetrahydrocannabinol” (THC) does not include “any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that falls within the definition of hemp.”
Removing any CBD drug product from Schedule V status that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and contains CBD “derived from cannabis [with] no more than 0.1% … residual tetrahydrocannabinols.”
Removing import and export controls over hemp and its derivatives.
Modifying the definition of “marihuana extract” to exclude substances that contain less than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis.
The DEA emphasizes that “this interim final rule merely conforms DEA's regulations to the statutory amendments to the CSA that have already taken effect, and it does not add additional requirements to the regulations.” It adds that no additional costs result from these changes.
Public comments will be accepted on the proposed amendments until Oct. 20, 2020.
