Market research commissioned by the CMC (Centre for Medicinal Cannabis) estimates that the CBD market is currently one of the fastest growing wellbeing product categories in the UK. At the current rate it will be worth almost £1B per annum by 2025, equivalent in size to the current entire UK herbal supplement market.
CBD, or cannabidiol, is the legal, non mind-altering part of the Cannabis plant. As reported in Which it is thought to affect our cell- signalling system (the endocannabinoid system), which helps to regulate functions such as sleep, immune response and pain. This explains CBD’s potentially wide-ranging application and the booming market place which taps into a number of key cultural trends we see on the rise in our ever increasingly stressed out society.
Emily Miles, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency, said:
‘CBD products are widely available on the high street but are not properly authorised. The CBD industry must provide more information about the safety and contents of these products to the regulator before 31 March 2021, or the products will be taken off the shelves.
‘Also today, we are advising that CBD could be risky for vulnerable groups, and suggesting an upper limit of 70mg a day for everyone else taking the product.
‘The actions that we’re taking today are a pragmatic and proportionate step in balancing the protection of public health with consumer choice. It’s now up to industry to supply this information so that the public can be reassured that CBD is safe and what it says it is.’
Note: The FSA is responsible for regulating CBD as a novel food. This does not include cosmetics, vapes, products making medicinal claims or products containing controlled drugs such as THC
Further information on cosmetic products containing CBD and cannabis extracts is available from the CTPA. Information on medicinal products is available from the MHRA (Appendix 10 of Guidance Note 8)
Read the full statement here: https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/food-standards-agency-sets-deadline-for-the-cbd-industry-and-provides-safety-advice-to-consumers
