The latest CBD and hemp news regarding the industry and state/national regulation updates
You can’t read the latest news without seeing at least one story about the hemp-plant extract CBD (cannabidiol).
On Nov. 3, 2019, Canada-based Cronos Group made hemp news headlines for paying $300 million to acquire the U.S.-based CBD company Lord Jones. One day later, it was announced that shoppers in the states of Florida and South Carolina could now purchase CBD products while picking up groceries at Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo stores, even though Florida remains a gray area in regard to CBD.
Arguably, this trend toward CBD received a major push when the president signed the Farm Bill of 2018 into law, legalizing the farming of industrial hemp, among other things. But what did this one action do to the CBD industry?
Created greater consumer confidence
Now that the government has essentially admitted that hemp and the CBD within it has beneficial properties, more consumers will be willing to try this approach in an effort to relieve or resolve their mental and physical health conditions.
Not that President Trump is the first government official to formally recognize the good that CBD can do. In June of 2018 hemp news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first ever CBD-containing drug for the treatment of rare forms of epilepsy. Specifically, Epidiolex was granted approval by the FDA to help individuals diagnosed with Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.
The more government officials and governmental agencies give credence to CBD, the more the public will look to this cannabis compound as a health care remedy. A remedy that gives them an alternative to dealing with pain that is not opiate based, which is especially important at a time when opioid addictions and overdoses appear to be at an all-time high, increasing by 9.6 percent in one year’s time.
More research, and more claims
With hemp now legal to farm, more research is also anticipated in the years ahead. The FDA stresses that the goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of not only how CBD can potentially help patients diagnosed with different conditions, but also to get a clearer picture of how much CBD is needed and what strains offer the most therapeutic effects.
As these studies are conducted and their findings released, CBD manufacturers will be in a position where they are better able to make claims about the benefits their products provide. This creates a marketing advantage based on proven, scientific data that can be used to compel consumers to buy their goods.
Additional product categories (and revenues)
With CBD becoming more mainstream, and with more consumers likely to choose this cannabinoid for medicinal use, manufacturers will also have the opportunity to develop and sell a larger variety of CBD-containing products.
For example, right now, consumers can buy CBD oils, tinctures, creams, lotions, pills, and capsules. There are also CBD gummies and vapes if either of these consumption methods are preferred. Many are available in different dosages and flavors, but there’s no telling what some manufacturers will come up with by way of new product lines. For example, some drink manufacturers are now offering consumers beverages that are CBD-infused. Others are selling bath bombs, face masks, energy shots, mints, lip balm, pet chews, and a variety of snacks that have all been supplemented with CBD.
With more product categories comes more product sales. Case in point: an analysis conducted by the Brightfield Group suggests that the CBD market is anticipated to be worth $23.7 by 2023, with a large portion of that growth occurring in 2019, the year immediately following hemp farming legalization.
Big business
What is most startling to some is that this increase in sales isn’t likely to be due to more small CBD stores opening in cities across the nation. Instead, it is the large retail chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Kroger that are expected to capture a majority of the growth.
Entering 2020 it remains to be seen if sweeping U.S. legislation will be issued despite the runaway popularity of CBD among consumers and companies jumping on the CBD bandwagon. This summer in hemp news the FDA held a public hearing to collect public comment regarding CBD, pledging a regulatory update by the fall that failed to materialize. In the meantime state lawmakers continue to push not only for CBD blessing in regard to public sales, but for the regulatory oversight to guarantee product quality and truth in marketing.
For the DCs Guide to Hemp Oil Benefits, or to see the latest news on CBD, go to the Chiropractic Economics CBD/hemp resource center at www.chiroeco.com/guide-hemp-oil-benefits.
