The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was dragged through the mud by lawmakers yesterday, who said its ‘bureaucratic red tape, inefficiencies, and weak oversight’ was responsible for the flood of intoxicating hemp substances across the country.
The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held its hearing, dubbed ‘Restoring Trust in the FDA: Rooting Out Illicit Products’, on Wednesday (April 09) to examine the FDA’s apparent failure to protect American consumers from these new products, reported The Business of Cannabis.
Also aiming at China, which it accused of importing millions of dollars worth of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and synthetic cannabinoids, the hearing said that its slow reaction to the spread of hemp-derived cannabis adjacent products had allowed a multi-billion dollar industry to develop in a regulatory desert.
Jonathan Miller, General Counsel for the US Hemp Roundtable, argued that the FDA’s failure to act has created an uneven playing field where responsible businesses are being undercut by bad actors.
He added that the marketplace was being swamped with Chinese synthetic cannabinoids that bear no relation to the hemp plant and pose serious risks to public health.
These compounds are often mislabeled, lack third-party testing, and in some cases, have been marketed to children, drawing concern from both industry stakeholders and regulators at the state level.
Despite repeated calls from Congress, the FDA has yet to issue a regulatory framework for hemp-derived compounds, including psychoactive derivatives like Delta-8 THC. This vacuum, Miller argued, is not just stifling industry growth but eroding consumer trust in what was once viewed as a promising sector of American agriculture.
Some lawmakers view the issue as representative of broader dysfunction within the FDA, accusing the agency of prioritizing bureaucratic process over public safety.
Read more at The Business of Cannabis
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