At a time when there does not seem to be much consensus among likely voters on many issues, when it comes to concerns over CBD products there is broad agreement that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be doing more to protect consumers by better regulating them.
In public opinion research conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a 83 percent of registered voters said they want the FDA to step up and regulate CBD products. All partisan and demographic subgroups support this step; in fact, more than half of respondents said they would vote for candidates who support requiring the FDA to regulate CBD products in order to protect consumers from the many unknowns related to untested, unregulated CBD.
Notably, interest in ensuring the safety and effectiveness of CBD products is even stronger among voters who have actually used CBD products and those who describe themselves as very familiar with them.
CBD products are widely available and have even recently been marketed as having the ability to boost immunity against COVID-19 or mitigate symptoms of the virus, despite little to no scientific proof of these claims. Misleading claims like these are particularly dangerous during this era of unknowns, fears, and heightened health concerns.
In fact, some studies have found cannabis products can have potentially harmful side effects on infected coronavirus patients, and a number of experts have even cautioned against vaping (which is often used as a delivery method for CBD) during the COVID-19 crisis.
These concerns are more valid than ever as the CBD marketplace continues to boom amidst a time of pandemic. The vast majority of CBD products available today do not meet quality and safety standards set by the FDA and are not scientifically tested. And despite the fact that the FDA announced that CBD is not generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for its use in human or animal food, food products containing CBD line store shelves and show up in advertisements across the country.
Voters are clear: they want and need reliable information about CBD. As consumers and voters, we all agree that we deserve the gold standard protection that the FDA has provided for decades—something that is quite rare in this political climate.