CHFA urging Canadians to speak up in favour of CBD

A surge of momentum calling for regulation changes to permit CBD in Natural Health Products has been seen last month, following the launch of the Canadian Health Food Association’s (CHFA) campaign, CBD is Natural. This could change the way bakers work with CBD for the health food market.

As the 2019 federal election approaches, CHFA expects to see this momentum grow and evolve to the national stage. CBD, or cannabidiol, is the non-psychoative ingredient in cannabis. In other words, CBD will not get consumers high.

“We launched CBD is Natural to mobilize Canadians to speak-up during the election and call on all parties to update Canada’s regulations to permit the sale of CBD in NHPs,” said Helen Long, President of CHFA in a press release. “Otherwise, Canadian businesses will continue to be left behind and consumers will continue to be forced to purchase unregulated products from the black market that do not meet Canada’s high-quality standards or recreational products not labelled for health purposes.”

“Through the month of August, we’ve seen a 100 per cent increase in engagement by Canadians on www.cbdisnatural.ca, and retailers, manufacturers, and Canadians are all taking action by sending letters to their local candidates,” added Long in the same release. “The message is resonating loud and clear: it doesn’t make sense for Canadians to access CBD for their health through recreational channels, and they should be able to go to their local natural health product retailer to purchase an NHP that contains CBD.”

CHFA also launched a French-language version of the same campaign, Le CBD est Naturel in August as well. “Canadians from coast to coast to coast are now able to effectively deliver this message to their local candidates,” said Long. “This is not a problem that will go away on its own. Canada’s Natural Health Products industry wants to seize the innovation opportunity to become a global leader in providing CBD NHPs – but we’re prevented from doing that. This situation needs to be rectified, and we are encouraging all Canadians to engage with their candidates, and to take action via CBDisNatural.ca.”

Canadians looking to reach their candidates about this issue can visit CBDisNatural.ca to send a letter.