As of late a lot of news has been rolling out for potential bans on cannabis and hemp this year, including recent DEA statements about banning various cannabinoids. This slippery slope alongside various other pieces of information is lining up for what would appear a major blow to the entire hemp market. We’ll be covering the DEA statements, what this means, what it can lead to, and other current news on cannabis that comes to a shocking outcome.
DEA on Banning Cannabinoids
The Farm Bill of 2018 fully legalized hemp on a federal level allowing all plants to be utilized so long as their dry weight for THC Delta-9 was at or below 0.3%. This legalized hemp derived CBD but left a grey area on newly discovered cannabinoids such as THC Delta-8, THC-P, and others. Many of these naturally occurring cannabinoids are found in very trace amounts in hemp. Due to the low amount of these cannabinoids, other similar cannabinoids such as CBD and THC found inside hemp have their structures converted others such as THC Delta-8, and so on. It is a safe, and practical method of conversion, and maintains a natural coherency.
This is where the DEA is stepping in though. They are now pushing that anything undergoing such processes to be considered synthetic, which under the Farm Bill of 2018 would then outlaw these cannabinoids. Off first glance they have only named specifically psychoactive cannabinoids such as THC Delta-8, but it leaves room for others that aren’t psychoactive such as CBN, CBG, CBC, and more. Now you can probably see where this is going, a slippery slope.
Other concerning news, HLVd Outbreak
There has been talks about a major HLVd outbreak in cannabis across the country. HLVd is also known as hop laten viroid or Dudding Disease. It is a plant pathogenic virus that shrivels and reduces plant mass, affecting fruits and flower production. Some cannabis farms have been reporting upwards of almost 30% reduction in flower, and it is reportedly somewhere around 90% of all California cannabis could be infected with HVLd. Another concern is that this is not just an issue in California but is rapidly spreading across the United States as well as Europe and other parts of the world.
Due to this major outbreak, it is also bringing up other concerns with growing. These concerns include but are not limited to, heavy metal contamination in soil, pesticide residues, environmental influences on growing, plant impurities, microbial and mold proliferation. The stage is currently being set that synthetic cannabinoids are going to set the industry standard for quality product, and that natural cannabinoids won’t be cut out for consumption. This is also contributing to the slippery slope.
Big Pharma Locking Down on Synthetic Cannabinoids
Currently Big Pharma, already active in mass producing synthetic cannabinoids and drugs such as nabilone, marinol, and various others that are currently used for chemotherapy patients, are zoning in on the rest of cannabinoids. Essentially what will happen are these mega corporations will have full lockdown and monopoly on selling synthetic cannabinoids, meanwhile natural grown cannabinoids and processes will most likely be outlaw, banning the rest of us from participating or using natural products legally.
It is predicted that the synthetic cannabinoids market will be worth near $14.8 billion or more in just the next 10 years. Don’t let anyone fool you, there is major greed at play here, and Big Pharma is trying to suck up every dollar they can get while banning and outlawing everyone else. Some of the Big Pharma players are Noramco Inc, Hyasynth Biologicals Inc, Insys Therapeutics, CV Sciences, Ginkgo Bioworks, CannBioRx Life Sciences, Renew Biopharma, and Lygos. Of these various Big Pharma manufacturers Noramco, CannBioRx Life Sciences, and Hyasynth Biologicals currently hold 65% of the synthetic cannabinoid global market.
These synthetics they produce have a long history of negative side effects, but they are continually trying to push that FAKE is better than Mother Nature.
The Final Takeaway
It’s safe to say looking at all these current events and evidence, that they are most definitely coming for cannabis and cannabinoids. Nothing is set in stone though as of for now until the new Farm Bill of 2023 is passed. Currently many thing are still being discussed for the new farm bill, with one of the only positives being actively discussed is raising the 0.3% THC limit to 1% for hemp. Talk about banning these other cannabinoids is a likely outcome, and depending on how far it will go, it could lead to others that shouldn’t be banned becoming banned.
Is it a coincidence that the HVLd outbreak is happening just in the past few years? Is it a coincidence that the DEA is trying to headline and dictate cannabinoids and cannabis? Is it a coincidence that press and “studies” are being done to prove that synthetic cannabinoids are the way to go and not natural ones that Big Pharma can make and monopolize?
We are actively watching the groundwork being laid down for an entire take over of cannabis and all cannabinoids. We need to be vocal; we need to be diligent. When the proposed Farm Bill of 2023 becomes available, we need to actively call and educate our congress to pass just and reasonable law.
