Many New Yorkers have been satisfying their sweet teeth with the added bonus of a dose of cannabidiol, or CBD. However, the New York Department Of Health is pumping the brakes on the country’s latest healthy trend when it comes to adding it into your food. The Atlantic reports. 2018’s Farm Bill passage has officially opened the floodgates of the legal CBD market. The DOH isn’t deeming CBD safe as a food additive just because it doesn’t contain psychoactive effects. Hemp-derived CBD approved by the Farm Bill must contain less than 0.2 percent THC, which is the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
Many tout CBD as a health and wellness revolution. There are studies about the benefits, the most often repeated being inflammation, anxiety reduction, and a reduction in epileptic seizures and symptoms. CBS banned a Super Bowl advertisement showing parents explaining the benefits CBD had dealing with their children’s epileptic symptoms. There’s obviously something the CBD phenomenon and the New York DOH isn’t denying that; they just don’t want restaurants putting unregulated CBD into customers food.
The problem with an unregulated market is there are no guarantees that the customer is getting exactly what they paid for. NBC New York conducted an undercover report (linked below) that revealed people selling over the counter CBD products lying about their source and about their FDA approval.
“Restaurants in New York City are not permitted to add anything to food or drink that is not approved as safe to eat,” according to a New York City Department of Health spokesperson. “Until cannabidiol … is deemed safe as a food additive, the department is ordering restaurants not to offer products containing CBD.”
CBD can’t be added as an ingredient to your food, but the DOH didn’t say they couldn’t sell it outright. This is making potential jumps into the CBD market confusing. Restaurants who don’t comply to the embargo can be subject to fines upwards of $650.
CBD Crackdown – Unregulated Markets Poise Issues For The “Miracle Drug”
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