NPA calls Wyden’s hemp bill a “power grab”

The Natural Products Association is opposing a law proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that would regulate the hemp industry. NPA claimed the move is an attempt by well-funded tobacco interests to dominate the sector and separate cannabis from the regulation of other botanicals, setting a dangerous precedent.

Wyden’s legislation, which was co-cosponsored by Sen. Jeff Markley, D-Ore., is called the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulations Act (CSRA).

Bill would create separate regulatory structure for cannabis and hemp products

According to Wyden’s office, the CSRA would establish a national age restriction to prevent those under 21 from purchasing hemp-derived cannabis products. The legislation would require that all hemp-derived products are tested for safety and manufactured using clean and safe processes. The CSRA would require truth-in-labeling and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recall or ban any cannabis products with dangerous chemicals or additives.

The bill would also require the establishment of a cannabinoid center within FDA.

NPA: Big Tobacco is calling the shots

In a statement issued Monday, Sept. 30, NPA declared the bill “includes several provisions aimed at dismantling DSHEA [the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994] and is a flagrant power grab by the Food and Drug Administration.”

“This is Big Tobacco’s Hail Mary attempt to disguise its intentions as establishing national standards to protect health and safety, but it instead is completely unnecessary overstep that dismantles DSHEA that will impact the entire dietary supplement industry, most notably those interested in botanicals,” NPA President and CEO Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., said.

Tobacco company investments in hemp sector

Large tobacco concerns reportedly have had interest in the medical marijuana/recreational cannabis/industrial hemp sector for years. British American Tobacco (BAT), a multinational concern that includes Reynolds American, the follow-on entity of R.J. Reynolds, invested $56.8 million into hemp products brand Charlotte’s Web in 2022, which was then equivalent to about a 20% stake in the company.

In 2023, BAT also paid $10 million for a 20% stake in a drug development joint venture that included Charlotte’s Web and ANJA, a drug development firm founded by Charlotte’s Web co-founder Joel Stanley and some other fellow CW employees. The goal is to develop a drug based on a full-spectrum hemp extract.

BAT has also invested $92 million in Organigram, a Canadian cannabis research company.

According to the site Truth Initiative, an anti-tobacco use site, large tobacco companies such as Imperial Brands, Altria (maker of Marlboro) and Philip Morris have also invested in the sector. The functional similarities between tobacco and cannabis in terms of cultivation, active ingredient extraction and delivery modes seem to be part of the attraction for the investments.

NPA: Cleaving regulation of cannabis off from other botanicals sets bad precedent

Fabricant, who about a decade ago had directed FDA’s then-Division of Dietary Supplement Programs, argued Wyden’s bill sets a dangerous precedent in cleaving the regulation of hemp off from other botanicals, which are regulated as dietary supplements under DSHEA.

The bill would mandate warnings on labels like those that appear on tobacco products. Such warnings do not appear on botanical dietary supplements.

The CSRA also includes user fees that NPA claims could burden smaller firms, and it calls for premarket product registration — something NPA has opposed but which is supported by some other dietary supplement industry trade groups.

“The notion that a botanical, like hemp, cannot fit into the structure provided by DSHEA or other parts of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act already in effect is a complete slap in the face to the work of Senators Orrin Hatch and Tom Harkin to ensure DSHEA was unanimously approved,” Fabricant said.

“The groups supporting this legislation and the forming of a new center at the FDA and user fees at a time when the hemp market has been economically crushed is tone deaf at the behest of Big Tobacco’s interest in hemp,” he added. “The Natural Products Association is prepared to take on Big Tobacco, and we expect others to do the same.”

Hemp group said bill has industry support

Jonathan Miller, general counsel of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, said he would refrain from commenting on Fabricant’s allegations directly. But he noted “the hemp industry is united behind the bill as evidenced by the dozens of hemp groups that have endorsed it.”

According to Sen. Wyden’s office, in addition to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, support comes from the National Cannabis Industry Association, National Industrial Hemp Council and hemp industry associations from California, Colorado, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, South Dakota, Virginia and Texas.

The offices of Wyden and Markley did not immediately respond to requests for comment.