Indiana declares all CBD products illegal

Indiana‘s attorney general has declared CBD illegal, and the state is now checking for shops selling CBD products.

Gov. Eric Holcomb is sending state excise police to find and identify retailers who have products onhand containing the non-psychoactive cannabinoid. Stores will be given 60 days to sell the products or permanently remove them, according to the Indianapolis Star.

“Because CBD oil has been sold in Indiana for several years,” Holcomb told the Star, “the excise police will use the next 60 days to educate, inform and issue warnings to retailers so there is a reasonable period of time for them to remove products that contain THC.”

But Attorney General Curtis Hill’s recently issued opinion is that no CBD product is legal in Indiana — no matter its THC content — so it’s uncertain why the governor implied that only CBD products that also contain psychoactive THC would be affected by the searches.

“Simply put,” Hill said, “cannabidiol is a Schedule 1 controlled substance because marijuana is a schedule 1 controlled substance.” His comment refers to the federal law that classifies marijuana and all of its chemical components in the highest tier of dangerous narcotics, along with LSD and heroin. Hill’s opinion seems to conflict with a 2014 state industrial hemp law that allows sales of products that contain less than 0.3 percent THC.

Many stores had already lost hundreds of dollars worth of inventory.

The 60-day period came about after the state’s excise police had already begun confiscating products from some stores. After the conflict between the attorney general’s order and the 2014 industrial hemp law was raised, the seizures were put on hold, according to the Star. Many stores had already lost hundreds of dollars worth of inventory.

Indiana passed a law earlier this year creating a registry of epilepsy sufferers eligible to legally possess and use CBD. Neither the governor nor the attorney general has explained how registered patents will obtain therapeutic CBD if all products containing the substance are illegal.

CBD is also called cannabidiol. It is usually the second-most common cannabinoid in cannabis plants. CBD is also found in hemp, which is the same species as cannabis (or marijuana), but is selectively bred to exclude THC. Hemp is often used to produce CBD products — partly to insure low THC content.

CBD is widely believed to have multiple therapeutic properties, and is used to treat pain, anxiety, inflammation, epilepsy and other seizure disorders, and many other conditions. Many states have laws allowing use of CBD for medical conditions. It is sold in many forms, including in vaping e-liquid.