We Won! Unregulated Hemp CBD stopped! AB 228 DEAD!

We want to thank all of our coalition partners who have worked so hard these past several months to stop AB 228 which threatened the public health. Should AB 228 had passed it would have allowed Hemp CBD to be put into the food supply with no safety testing requirements, unlike Cannabis CBD which requires stringent safety testing.

In addition to being a public health threat, this bill would have encouraged the recent phenomenon of CBD shops to open and continue to serve as loop holes in current cannabis regulations. These CBD shops can compete unfairly with the regulated cannabis market by selling similar products without any of the tax revenue benefits to state and local jurisdictions. In addition to that we have seen these CBD store act as fronts for illicit cannabis shops making it difficult for law enforcement to differentiate between products.

The bill was held in discussion and time ran out for it to be voted on in the 2018 legislative session. We anticipate the author, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry, attempting its return in 2020 and welcome continued discussion with the Assemblymember in hopes of finding a solution that would at minimum require testing and sales parity with the cannabis industry.

We remain puzzled why the Assemblymember refuses to do so, but hopeful she has learned from the recent vaping crisis which the Associated Press attributes in part due to the unregulated CBD market.

Below you will find the coalitions full letter of opposition to AB 228.