15 CBD & Delta-9 Warning Letters in 2023

Two weeks ago, FDA sent its 15th CBD and delta-8 warning letter of 2023. Although this seems like a high number, it was down from 34 last year. So why the dramatic reduction in enforcement action? One reason is many CBD companies were started by people not familiar with the nuanced rules of marketing ingestible products. These businesses and the inexperienced operators that were making risky marketing claims have moved to other industries, and there are simply no longer thousands of noncompliant CBD companies.

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There still are however, some companies selling CBD, and today’s Warning Letter Wednesday has good learning opportunities for the supplement and cannabinoid industries.

🔷Old blog posts are marketing.
The days of 2020 are thankfully behind us, but all of the content produced back then is still active marketing in the eyes of the FDA. This warning letter cited several posts, including this one from November 2020. The lesson here is going back and reviewing old social media and blog posts is an essential part of compliance as these “forgotten” posts continue to be cited in marketing.
👉From warning letter. “A November 12, 2020 blog post titled “CBD, COVID-19, And The Novel Coronavirus” which contains claims such as “On the more promising side of research, a research team based out of Augusta University (GA) found a potential protective role for CBD as part of the treatment of COVID-19”

🔷Social media
Here is a post where the company makes high-risk statements on their Facebook and Instagram.
👉From warning letter. “Experimental evidence is limited, and more research is needed, but studies on pain and inflammation, breast cancer, epilepsy, and other conditions have found a greater therapeutic effectiveness of whole-plant or full-spectrum cannabis products than isolated cannabinoids.”

Read the full letter.

Disclaimer: The educational information provided here is for informational purposes only. Contact an attorney for specific legal advice. Rule #1 in compliance is to ensure marketing is truthful and not misleading.