(Article republished from ANH-USA.org)

For a while now, we've been telling you about the FDA's attack on CBD oil, a natural, safe, and non-addictive alternative to dangerous opioid drugs. We must support a bill that would protect hemp-derived CBD supplements from the federal government.

The bill (HR 841) is simple. It amends the law to provide an exemption for hemp-derived CBD from rules that apply to dietary supplements when there is an approved drug with that ingredient or if that ingredient is being investigated as a new drug.

Note that the other provisions of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 still apply to CBD. Given that the FDA's position seems to be that CBD is a "new supplement" (in FDA lingo, a new dietary ingredient, or NDI), this means that before companies sell CBD they will need to submit information to the FDA demonstrating that the CBD supplement can be reasonably expected to be safe.

The regulation of CBD has become a fraught and confusing process. We sifted through the details in previous coverage. Suffice it to say, the FDA can't be expected to allow affordable CBD on its own; we will need an act of Congress to settle the issue. Recall that the agency approved a CBD drug, Epidolex, for the treatment of seizures from two rare forms of epilepsy. The drug costs $32,500 per year.

History and experience demonstrate that the FDA will, when left to its own devices, do what it can to protect the approved drug and eliminate all other forms of CBD. We see the same thing happening with bioidentical hormones. As we reported previously, the FDA and its cronies are interested in protecting the marketplace for FDA-approved hormones and have an innate distrust of medicines, like compounded bioidentical estriol, that they do not control.

It is critical that consumers can continue to access affordable CBD. Dangerous opioids kill tens of thousands of Americans every year. CBD is a safe, non-additive alternative to these drugs with evidence to support its effectiveness for pain. CBD has also shown promise as a treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections like MRSA, which alone kills 90,000 Americans a year. The benefits of this safe natural medicine should not be reserved to those who can pay a $32,500 per year price tag.

Help support affordable CBD by asking your federal representatives to support this bill.

Read more at: ANH-USA.org and SupplementsReport.com