Canadian supplement makers, food manufacturers, and farmers are set to miss out on North America’s latest health and beauty craze if federal rules around cannabidiol don’t change.
Advocates for CBD reform would like to see the cannabinoid treated like Vitamin D or Omega 3 fatty acids: produced under Canada’s Natural Health Product regulations, stamped with efficacy claims, and sold in health food stores. Around a quarter of the total Canadian hemp crop in 2018 – roughly 20,000 acres out of 80,000 – was harvested for CBD extraction, Mr. Haney said. He envisions closer to 450,000 acres of hemp planted in Canada by 2023, which is comparable to the size of Canadian mustard or flax crops. But this depends largely on fostering a domestic market for CBD.
In contrast to Canada, the United States has already started down the natural health product path for CBD. In December, the U.S. federal government passed legislation that removed hemp-derived CBD from the Controlled Substances Act, and handed it over the Food and Drug Administration to regulate.