The DEA did not ban shipping of hemp-derived CBD products

Rumors abound about a DEA policy shift on Hemp-Derived CBD.

The Drug Enforcement Agency published a bulletin (on 12/14) regarding a new drug classification for marijuana extracts. Effectively, they created a category for all manufactured extracts produced through any type of processing, in order to better classify and track marijuana concentrates. The rule posted on the Federal Register’s website states:

“The Drug Enforcement Administration is creating a new Administration Controlled Substances Code Number for ‘Marihuana Extract.’ This code number will allow DEA and DEA-registered entities to track quantities of this material separately from quantities of marihuana.”

The announcement of this rule publication immediately set off rumors across the internet, primarily sourced to an article in the Huffington Post’s Contributors’ section. It suggested the Drug Enforcement Agency had launched a new offensive by reclassifying CBD, and the Federal ruling would prevent the shipment of CBD products across the US. Feeding into conspiracy, the article noted the spelling of “marihuana” in the Federal Register as a way for the DEA to somehow create new rules of engagement without being noticed during internet searches conducted on the terms “DEA marijuana”. The article has now been removed from the Huffington Post’s website.

Effectively, the DEA created a code for marijuana concentrates, which have been the fastest growing segment of the market for some time. (Among other things, this will allow agents in the field, in states where marijuana is illegal, to identify Oil, Wax, Shatter, Budder, or Crumble as a marijuana “extract” instead of calling it “um, marihuana?”) The Federal action did not change the DEA’s position in regards to the status of marijuana or its concentrated by-products. The CBD cited in the bulletin concerned whole-plant marijuana extract, which by law have never been permitted to be shipped across state lines.

Hemp-derived CBD was not addressed in this bulletin. The Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration jointly issued a “Statement of Principles on Industrial Hemp” in August 2016, which was the last Federal statement on industrial hemp. Hemp-derived CBD products are still allowed to be shipped across the country legally.

On that note: our office just received a shipment of PlusCBD Oil‘s award-winning, extra strength, CBD (hemp-derived) extracts. We thank the team at CV Sciences for sending us samples – with a reminder to all that absolutely NO laws were broken in the process. A very Merry (early) Christmas, indeed!