New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has issued an embargo on CBD-based products in restaurants across the Big Apple. The news was broke by Eater and then confirmed this morning by an NYT article. While the news may come as a shock to restauranteurs and customers expecting a CBD-latte or CBD-laced cookie, the DOH’s move mirrors what regulators and authorities have been doing across the country. Let’s talk this through.

NYC Regulators Were Just Catching Up With DEA and FDA On CBD Products

Regulators from Maine to Ohio to California have all begun cracking down on restaurants utilizing CBD as an ingredient. Why? The rationale is twofold. For starters, CBD (and its close chemical cousin THC) are both, to be clear, still regulated as derivatives of cannabis, still a Schedule 1 drug according to the DEA. The FDA, who doesn’t wanna tangle with the DEA if they don’t have to, has been very clear in CBD-based foodstuffs being illegal to transport across state lines due to the Schedule 1. State and city regulators who, believe it or not, want to remain on the good side of both the DEA and FDA, are to an extent following suit.

Now you, dear reader, are probably thinking to yourself “But the Farm Bill legislation,” or something to that effect at this point. Which, good for you about the whole keeping up with news centered on the plant-touching biz, but the FDA and DEA care not for Farm Bills at this juncture. CBD, despite its popularity and seeming ubiquity, is not scrutinized to a satisfying extent for FDA rubber-stamping restaurants licenses. And when we say scrutinized, we mean it. The CBD market and its customers need to recognize that many items labeled as CBD may not have the advertised product or amount in it.

During our NYC roundtable a few weeks ago, we tackled the CBD/regulation issue. Watch below!

Aside from lack of testing and scrutiny of CBD-based products, it may come down to dosage as well. How much is going into a consumable good and who is dosing that consumable good. Part of the reasoning behind California going after CBD-infused consmables last fall was the fact that the mixologist behind the bar may not be the most informed on appropriate dosages of CBD in a mocktail. While this is not an official explanation, trust us, the lack of approved and standardized training for bartenders or baristas handling substances such as CBD is not helping anyone’s case.

While this news is certainly a confusing shock to the system for some business owners and their consumers, the moves not only in New York City, but also in Maine, Ohio, etc, are ultimately good news for consumers who, fingers crossed, will eventually be getting better regulated, higher quality CBD in their lattes, cookies or mocktails.

Have questions about if your plant-touching biz’s CBD products are compliant? Let us know and we’ll work with you to get it figured out.