Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner is calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to clarify its stance on hemp-derived cannabinoids.
“The No. 1 impediment of hemp in America is the FDA,” AG Commissioner Ryan Quarles Quarles said, according to Lancaster Farming of Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
“The FDA needs to do their job and give us guidelines on what their view is on the potential regulatory aspects of CBD and other cannabinoids.”
Quarles has long been a vocal critic of federal drug policies regarding hemp.
In 2017, for example, he wrote a letter to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to address the DEA’s position on hemp-derived CBD.
Quarles also has found himself on the wrong side of the industry.
Last year, the Kentucky Hemp Association sued Quarles and State Police Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr., claiming the law enforcement agency was illegally raiding legal hemp retail stores in search of delta-8 THC products.
