New DEA Rule Says CBD Oil is Really, Truly, No-Joke Illegal

[Calculating]

Great going DEA, ban a substance that LITERALLY doesn't get people high and only helps sick people. Was it cutting into big pharma profits too much or something?

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/new-dea-rule-says-cbd-oil-really-truly-no-joke-illegal
Note: This article contains an update on the legal status of CBD products, below the original text.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made CBD oil a little more federally illegal in a little-noticed bureaucratic maneuver this morning.

Today’s Federal Register (Dec. 14, 2016) contains an item (21 CFR Part 1308) that establishes a new drug code for “marihuana extract.”

“This code,” wrote DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, “will allow DEA and DEA-registered entities to track quantities of this material separately from quantities of marihuana.” The move, the Register entry explained, is meant to bring the US into compliance with international drug-control treaties.

There is no major change in law brought about by the Register item. Rather, it serves to clarify and reinforce the DEA’s position on all cannabis extracts, including CBD oil. That position is: They are all federally illegal Schedule I substances. “Extracts of marihuana will continue to be treated as Schedule I controlled substances,” the notice says.

CBD oil derived from hemp is now commonly available nationwide via web sites and mail order services. Those operations survive on the assumption that cannabidiol products below the legal threshold for THC percentage in hemp (0.3 percent or less) are technically legal.

Not so, says the DEA.

[haele]

1. Yup, CBD extract was cutting into the opioid business...

So, if someone wants pain relief without opioids, and wants to use CBD oil or external use rather than smoking, daubing, or other processes that require equipment or can't easily be used in public, they're SOL.
Two years ago, Spouse was going mentally downhill fast; His "pain specialist" doctor was upping the amount of opioids for his chronic debilitating pain until he was basically housebound (couldn't drive) and had seriously chronic constipation verging on impacted bowels.
A year ago, he got himself a MM card and I started making him mini-muffins with 1/2 cup 5/2 CBD/THC level cannabis oil, and he's now able to handle his pain with only one or two muffins every other day.
He can now walk almost a quarter mile without needing to stop and sit. Before, he could just make it to the passenger seat of the car from a memory-foam padded recliner - about 50 feet, without stopping for five minutes to deal with his pain and get his body back under control; we were considering a mobility scooter for in the house, it was that bad.
He can now sit in a regular straight chair at a table and play Legos and build models for two/three hours with our grand-daughter - something he hasn't been able to do for 5 years. He can stand in the shower for ten minutes, and can shave himself most of the way if he can sit.

That's better mobility, less pain since he got off the Hydrocodone cycle.

If CBD oil is now a federal offense, even with legal medical marijuana, he'll be useless again within 2 years.

Thank you, Drug Warriors!

Haele

[Calculating]

2. I really feel like the DEA is bought and paid for by big pharma

There are no other explanations behind banning cbd.