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Former FDA Commissioner Calls For Descheduling And Federal Regulation

by Andrew Kline, NCIA’s Director of Public Policy

With uncertainty about the proximate cause of the vaping crisis continuing to roil state regulators, and state governors trying to determine the right short-term solution to protect the public health, the former Commissioner of the FDA has a longer-term plan. Former Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is rightly calling for descheduling and federal regulation in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. NCIA made the same argument in our Policy Council’s recent white paper on regulating cannabis post-legalization and in our public responses to the vaping crisis. 

While no one yet knows for certain what has been causing these injuries and deaths, it is readily apparent that unregulated and untested products are extremely dangerous and continue to infiltrate the market. Just last week, a mother and her two sons were arrested for allegedly illegally filling over 30,000 vape cartridges in Wisconsin from their home. That burgeoning illicit and untested market poses real risks to American consumers. And the best way to eliminate the illicit market is to create opportunities for consumers to purchase products from legal dispensaries and market awareness of the benefits of purchasing from those regulated markets. 

For example, if consumers know that legal dispensaries are selling regulated products that have been tested to improve consumer safety, then they will be more inclined to stop purchasing from the illicit market. People already know that when they step foot into a grocery store, the foods they eat and the drugs and dietary supplements they take are part of a supply chain designed to improve safety. That is because they have placed trust in the USDA and FDA. And no better way to build consumer confidence, than to make sure that trusted federal agencies are in charge of promoting public health in the cannabis industry. 

We can’t continue to leave the cannabis industry in a state of uncertainty. It’s time to deschedule, regulate at the federal level, and require mandatory lab testing. We must displace the illegal, unregulated and untested illicit market. There is no plan B. 

Andrew Kline is Director of Public Policy for NCIA and Chair of NCIA’s Safe Vaping Task Force 

How Will The Federal Government Regulate Cannabis? We Have a Plan.

by Andrew Kline, NCIA’s Director of Public Policy

NCIA could not be more proud of the collective efforts of the cannabis industry in passing SAFE Banking legislation in the House. Last week was a truly historic moment for the industry. Now, on to the Senate!

While we always relish in victories, we can’t lose momentum, and we need to start thinking about what comes next. As luck (and a bit of hard work) would have it, NCIA has a plan. While NCIA has been fully supportive of incremental steps like SAFE Banking, we believe that the only long-term viable path forward for this industry is descheduling. It’s the only way to solve social equity, it’s the best way to fix 280E, it’s the way that we start looking at cannabis through a public health lens (instead of a criminal enforcement lens), it fixes issues around interstate commerce, and it’s the only way to end the unsustainable federalism clash.

In addition to de-scheduling, our plan calls for cannabis products, like other highly regulated consumables, to be regulated by the government agencies that currently regulate most food and drugs, primarily the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) within the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Under our plan, cannabis products would be divided into four categories, based on chemical components, safety, intended use, and consumption method. Each of these groups would be regulated through a separate regulatory “lane” tailored to the public policy issues raised by that particular classification. The four lanes are:

Lane #1 — Pharmaceutical drugs (e.g., Epidiolex; Marinol)

(Regulated Like Prescription/OTC Drugs; Lead Federal Regulator: FDA) 

Lane #2 — Ingested, inhaled, or topically applied products with more than de minimis amounts of THC (+0.3%)

(Regulated Like Alcohol; Lead Federal Regulator: TTB) 

Lane #3 — Ingested and inhaled products with de minimis amounts of THC (<0.3% THC) (e.g., CBD, CBN, and CBG)

(Regulated Like Food/Dietary Supplements; Lead Regulator: FDA)

Lane #4 — Topically applied products with de minimis amounts of THC (<0.3% THC) (e.g., CBD, CBN, and CBG topicals)

(Regulated Like Cosmetics; Lead Federal Regulator: FDA)

Photo By CannabisCamera.com

We firmly believe that our plan sets the stage for the weeks and months ahead. We hope that lawmakers will heed our call for de-scheduling and federal regulation. There is no other viable option for the burgeoning cannabis industry. As always, NCIA stands ready to provide technical assistance to lawmakers and to the Executive Branch as we forge ahead. There is no stopping us now.

If you’re interested in working on public policy issues like this one, please reach out to me to inquire about the Policy Council. We are the think tank for cannabis and we’re just getting started. 

DOWNLOAD THE WHITE PAPER

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