Todd Harrison recently spoke with HBW Insights for the article, “US Hemp Supplement Market Forecast: Congress Delays THC Level Changes, Or ‘Payments Dry Up’?” Below is an excerpt.
More could be known about the future of the use of hemp-derived ingredients in food and supplements when the House Agriculture Committee on March 3 will consider its legislation for a five-year authorization of US Department of Agriculture programs and priorities, the farm bill.
Food and drug regulation attorney Todd Harrison isn’t confident the one-year extension will be added to the farm bill or that Congress will pass separate legislation to delay the effective date or eliminate the THC limits included in the November stopgap spending bill.
“My opinion and my opinion only is if FDA had reviewed this in more detail initially and actually challenged these companies on whether delta-8, delta-10 levels that were in these products were generally recognized as safe for use at those levels, we probably wouldn’t be here today,” said Harrison, a partner at Venable LLC in Washington.
FDA officials emphasized when Congress passed the 2018 farm bill, which expired in 2023 but has been extended twice for one year, that the hemp provision sustained the agency’s regulation of the use of hemp in products subject to its oversight.
They’ve also said they expected to need congressional authorization to establish a regulatory pathway for lawful use in non-drug products because an administrative rulemaking would be difficult, lengthy and arduous. The agency officially asked for Congress’s help in 2023.