Category: CBD

Non-nicotine Vapes in Germany Face New Regulations
CBD vaping manufacturers and retailers in Germany will now be regulated starting in January after recent changes to the country’s tobacco law.
Under legislation passed by the German Bundestag on July 2, non-nicotine e-cigarettes and refillable containers will be regulated the way that their nicotine counterparts are, and additional advertising restrictions will apply to all vaping products, regardless of nicotine content, according to hempindustrydaily.com.
photo: Jeremynathan | Dreamstime
THC products in Germany are considered narcotics and fall under different rules entirely. “Many of my clients offer CBD-containing liquids for e-cigarettes and are concerned about the changes,” said Julia Seestaedt, a Hamburg-based attorney for the cannabis industry. “At the moment, manufacturers and retailers are most concerned about the comprehensive advertising ban associated with the change.”
According to Peter Homberg, who heads the European cannabis practice for Dentons Europe LLP in Berlin, the new legislation is just one facet of an increasingly restrictive market for all CBD products in Germany. “German regulation is very strict on CBD products, and it is to be expected that this will not change in the future,” Homberg said.
The German CBD retail landscape, he said, is markedly different than in the U.S. “It’s not as free as in the U.S. It is a very wide-open liberal market in the U.S., but we don’t have that here in Germany, despite the fact that there are products available on the market.”
With Germany set to put non-nicotine vapes on equal footing with their nicotine counterparts, these rules will soon apply to CBD vape manufacturers as well. Subjecting nicotine-free vape products to the same requirements and restrictions as their nicotine counterparts was “necessary to protect consumers from damage to their health,” the draft text reads.
Lawmakers wrote that the new advertising bans for CBD and other non-nicotine vape products were created in part to shield children from their influence. The legislation’s new restriction on outdoor advertising dictates that ads can be displayed only in shop windows or on exterior walls at retail stores that sell the products in question.
This means that “manufacturers will no longer be able to advertise nicotine-free CBD vapes on sidewalk advertising columns or billboards,” Seestaedt noted.
The changes are set to take effect beginning on Jan. 1, 2021, though outdoor advertising restrictions don’t take effect until 2024.
Non-nicotine e-cigarettes or refillable containers that were manufactured or placed on the market and labelled before Jan. 1, 2021 and complied with earlier provisions may remain on the market until March 31, 2021, according to the legislation.
August 13, 2020
U.S. FDA Approves CBD Drug for New Seizure Treatment

Credit: GW Pharma
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the cannabidiol (CBD) drug Epidiolex oral solution for the treatment of seizures associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) in patients one year of age and older, according to press release from GW Pharma.
TSC is a rare genetic disease that causes non-cancerous tumors to grow in the brain and other parts of the body like the eyes, heart, kidneys, lungs, and skin. TSC affects about 1 in 6,000 people, according to the release.
Epidiolex was previously approved for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Dravet syndrome (DS). This is the only FDA-approved drug that contains a purified drug substance derived from cannabis. It is also the second FDA approval of a drug for the treatment of seizures associated with TSC.
Epidiolex’s effectiveness for TSC-associated seizures was established in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial where 148 patients out of 224 received Epidiolex. Patients treated with Epidiolex had a significantly greater reduction in the frequency of seizures during the 16-week treatment period than patients who received placebo.
The most common side effects in Epidiolex-treated patients were: diarrhea, elevated liver enzymes, decreased appetite, sleepiness, fever, and vomiting. The FDA had granted Priority Review designation for this application.
August 5, 2020
Study Finds CBD Industry Will Suffer Major Losses in 2020

Credit: Terre di Cannabis
The economic turmoil cause by the global pandemic will force thousands of cannabidiol (CBD) businesses to close. According to cannabis research firm Brightfield Group, while many industry players will leave, the CBD market will remain flooded with some 1,500 brands jostling for market share, .
The top 20 over-the-counter CBD companies accounted for just 17 percent of the overall CBD market in early 2020, with some 3,000 other competitors crowding 77 percent of the market, the firm estimated in a report released last week.
The largest CBD producer, London’s GW Pharmaceuticals, makes prescription CBD medicines and accounted for the final 6 percent of U.S. CBD sales, according to Brightfield’s count.
The flooded market is a result of entrepreneurial enthusiasm for a booming trend with few established brands, according to an article in hempindustrydaily.com. Throughout 2019, the CBD market saw so many new CBD market participants that those earning less than $1 million in annual revenues occupy over 97 percent of the market, Brightfield concluded.
But the crowd of CBD companies is going to thin substantially in 2020, with COVID-19 driving a likely “extinction event” for half or more of those companies, said Bethany Gomez, managing director of the Florida-based research firm, according to the story.
“A lot of companies that were kind of dabbling in the category have found it to be unsustainable for them,” Gomez said. “A lot of brands that had tried this out, it’s not something that they’ve been able to turn a profit on.”
Not all new CBD startups are discouraged by the flood of competitors. For Jennifer Culpepper, who helped launch CBD skincare line i+i Botanicals in mid-2019, the market was already crowded.
“Our biggest challenge is to find our positioning and where we differentiate ourselves from other brands,” said Culpepper, who is based in Maryland. “How do you differentiate your CBD in a tincture?” she said. “We think of ourselves as a skin-care or self-care company that uses CBD as ingredient. That’s what sets us apart.”
The strategy is proven by Brightfield’s research, which notes that traditional CBD products – tinctures and gummies – are slipping in terms of market share. “The market is no longer entirely dominated by sufferers of extreme pain or epilepsy who must go to great lengths to attain product, nor primarily by cannabis consumers,” Brightfield reported.
Brightfield’s analysis did show some positive signs for CBD makers – notably that sales overall haven’t substantially slipped during the pandemic. The sector’s resilience is especially encouraging given national uncertainty about the economy and the level of unemployment enhancements the federal government stopped paying last week, Gomez said.
August 4, 2020
Report: CBD Drink Sales to Reach $2.8 Billion by 2025

A recent report states that the global cannabis beverages market size is expected to reach $2.8 Billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 17.8 percent. The report by Grand View Research looked at alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages using either Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
“By component, the market is segmented into Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The demand of THC infused cannabis beverages is majorly driven by rising product demand from adult consumers for recreational purposes,” the report states. “Rising demand for the therapeutic effects of the component along with the euphoria it provides is expected to bode well for the growth of the segment in the forthcoming years.”
I contrast, the CBD infused cannabis drinks are registered the fastest growth in (prior years). Also, the demand is expected to witness a surge over the forecasted period owing to the non-psychoactive properties of CBD, according to the report. Lack of psychoactive effect in the CBD drinks is widening its scope for usage of the drinks in medical purposes.
Many consumers are considering CBD drinks as a wellness and anti-inflammatory products, such as kombucha-a probiotic drink. This drink can potentially be used for treating chronic pain, anxiety, substance use disorders and central nervous system diseases. These factors are expected to boost the adoption of the product, resulting in the growth of the segment.”
May 27, 2020
Cannabis Offers Potential Resistance to Coronavirus

Credit: Christina Winter
An Alberta, Canada researcher says a new study shows that cannabis extracts are showing potential in making people more resistant to the novel coronavirus.
After sifting through 400 cannabis strains, researchers at the University of Lethbridge are concentrating on about a dozen that show promising results in ensuring less fertile ground for the potentially lethal virus to take root, said biological scientist Dr. Igor Kovalchuk, according to an article in the Calgary Herald.
“A number of them have reduced the number of these (virus) receptors by 73 per cent, the chance of it getting in is much lower,” said Kovalchuk. “If they can reduce the number of receptors, there’s much less chance of getting infected.”
Employing cannabis sativa strains over the past three months, the researcher said the effective balance between cannabis components THC and CBD — the latter more typically associated with medical use — is still unclear in blocking the novel coronavirus.
“It will take a long time to find what the active ingredient is — there may be many,” said Kovalchuk, whose Pathway RX is owned partly by Olds-based licensed cannabis producer Sundial Growers and partnered with Alberta cannabis researcher Swysh.
But it’s generally the anti-inflammatory properties of high-CBD content that have shown most promise, he added.
“We focus more on the higher CBD because people can take higher doses and not be impaired,” said Kovalchuk.
May 13, 2020