The Food and Drug Administration is looking for "pathways" to legalize the sale of CBD oil and other cannabis-based compounds in food and beverages in a move that could remove one of the last remaining legal hurdles for companies hoping to sell such products across state lines.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb outlined steps the agency is considering in regulating cannabis products after President Donald Trump signed the farm bill into law on Thursday. The legislation—an $867 billion, five-year spending bill that funds agricultural, nutrition and other federal programs—also loosened some federal restrictions on cannabis. It legalized hemp by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act while preserving the FDA's authority to regulate the products.
"I think it's really a game-changer," said Joshua Horn, a cannabis industry lawyer and partner at Fox Rothschild. "The significance is now you have some aspect of the cannabis world legalized on a federal basis."
