Los Angeles CBD lawyer

May 4, 2023

Fake CBD Endorsement Claims Can Lead to Lawsuits, Big Payouts

If you’re in the Los Angeles CBD business, it’s important to avoid playing fast-and-loose with celebrity endorsements and/or likenesses. Sure, there are many celebrities who are vocal fans of cannabis and CBD products, and some even have their own brands. But as our Los Angeles CBD business attorneys can explain, false assertions of big-name support have led to multi-million-dollar payouts in a number of recent cases. If you do have the green light from a prominent figure to use their name and likeness to promote your product, it is imperative that you get it all clearly in writing – to protect your company, your employees, and your assets. Los Angeles CBD lawyer on celebrity endorsements

While a good many of these faux celebrity endorsement have come from scammers, a few have involved actual CBD companies.

Among the recent instances of celebrities publicly denouncing use of their likeness or phony endorsements for CBD products:

Tom Brady. The pro-footballer has flatly denied his purported endorsement of CBD and keto gummies, as depicted in a number of approved Facebook ads – some of them sexually-explicit and clearly scams.
Phil McGraw. The name and likeness of “Dr. Phil” was used by a scam website that led users to believe they were on the Fox News website, where there was an ad indicating his endorsement of CBD gummies. One article even stated McGraw and Brady were teaming up in their endorsement of CBD gummies. They had not.
Dolly Parton. The 77-year-old country music singer/songwriter issued a statement saying that, contrary to circulated claims on various social media ads, she had never been associated with or endorsed any keto oils or CBD product.
Keanu Reeves. “The Matrix” actor was compelled to release a statement last year clarifying that he had never endorsed any CBD gummy or CBD oil product, and had never been interviewed by any CBD company for its website.

Two recent cases that have led to litigation involved include “Jeopardy!” host Mayim Bialik and actor Clint Eastwood (and the company that owns the right to his likeness). Continue reading

April 16, 2023

Breakdown of U.S. Rules for CBD Cosmetics by L.A. Cannabis Business Lawyer

By Cannabis Law Group

Although it didn’t get a lot of splashy coverage when it first passed, the gargantuan appropriations bill signed by the president at the end of last year contained a piece of legislation that has some significant potential for expansion of the cannabis cosmetics industry. Los Angeles CBD business

The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (better known as MOCRA), it’s the first time cosmetic rules have been updated by Congress through the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetics Act since it was passed in 1938. Other aspects of the law have been updated many times over as we’ve seen evolutions of technology, science, product safety, and responsible resourcing advocacy. Still, none of those expressly addressed makeup laws until MOCRA.

Prior to these changes, makeup companies didn’t legally have to test their products or the individual ingredients to ensure safety. Businesses didn’t have to register their production facilities with the FDA, abide by good manufacturing practice rules, or notify the government when there are adverse reactions (even life-threatening ones). Additionally, the FDA didn’t have the power to recall cosmetic products – even those that could be deadly. MOCRA rectifies all this and grants the FDA authority to oversee regulation of makeup products. (Small businesses may be exempt from certain requirements, depending on the specific circumstances.)

Cosmetics are defined not just as makeup, but those products intended for application to human bodies for cleaning, beautifying, altering appearance, or promoting attractiveness. Any product that promises to treat or prevent a condition or disease or alters some bodily function is classified as a “drug” by the FDA. It’s worth noting that CBD products can fall into both categories, but we’re specifically here just talking about CBD-infused cosmetics – though many do promise anti-inflammatory properties. These can include products like:

Lip balm and lip gloss
Moisturizers
Under eye serums
Hair creams
Scalp oil
Skin cleansers
Face masks
Deodorant
Mouthwash
Concealer/color corrector
Mascara

What Does This Mean for CBD Cosmetics Companies?

May 28, 2022

Can California CBD Retailers Carve a Lasting Competitive Advantage?

By Cannabis Law Group

CBD business operators currently have a sizeable economic advantage when it comes to their high-THC cannabis/extract counterparts. Thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, their operations are legal, (in many jurisdictions) lightly taxed, and available through online sales. California CBD business

But what will it mean for the CBD side of things when/if marijuana products of all (or at least higher) THC levels becomes legal? Specifically, we’re talking about legalization of recreational marijuana. Here in California, as well as in 17 other states, Washington, D.C. and Guam, that’s already the reality. Yet CBD businesses continue not only to operate, but to thrive.

Our CBD business lawyers recognize the retail landscape may inevitably shift once recreational marijuana becomes legal, but we also believe in the strong likelihood the two can co-exist. Not everyone wants high-THC products – specifically in the realm of pet products, beauty topicals, and cosmetics. Plus, there are a fair number of people who aren’t heavy users of THC, but may still want to indulge occasionally in a way that is safe.

Recent analysis reveal that the legal recreational marijuana market dwarfs the CBD market – $50 billion to $8 billion. Still, neither sector’s size is anything to sneeze at.

In shops that sell high-THC cannabis products, CBD product sales have fallen in recent years (at least so far as California goes). But it’s our theory that when adult use recreational marijuana becomes legal, there will be an increase in sales for both – particularly in mature markets. Continue reading

August 15, 2020

Los Angeles CBD Lawyer Analyzes the Plan (or Lack Thereof) for California Hemp Production

By Cannabis Law Group

The 2018 Farm Bill left no question as to the legality of hemp when it removed the crop – and its derivatives like CBD – from the definition of “marijuana” as listed within the U.S. Controlled Substances Act. The measure gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulatory authority over how hemp could be grown under federal guidelines. That said, states were given the option to assert primary regulatory authority over hemp growth and production inside its own borders. States that wanted to do this needed to submit plans to the USDA. Los Angeles CBD Lawyer

Although states weren’t given a strict deadline for submission of their own plans, it was noted in USDA interim rules that previous federal statute governing cultivation of hemp (the 2014 Farm Bill) expires at the end of October. That means hemp industry insiders in states that don’t turn in their hemp cultivation and production plans prior to Oct. 31, 2020 may have issues if their practices are not consistent with federal law.

As a longtime Los Angeles CBD lawyer, I have been closely watching these developments in California. In 2019, state lawmakers passed SB-153, a measure that required the state’s attorney general and department of food and agriculture to team up and put forth a hemp production plan to the federal agriculture department by no later than May 2020. However, that did not happen. According to the USDA, the feds are still waiting on California’s plan. Continue reading

February 20, 2019

FDA Ruling Spurs City Crackdowns on CBD Edibles

By Cannabis Law Group

In what is being characterized as an abrupt change in CBD edible products policy, New York City has begun cracking down on CBD oil following by a late-last-year ruling by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deeming CBD unsafe for consumption in culinary use. Los Angeles CBD business attorneys have begun seeing in this in California also. CBD edibles California law

Last summer, the Orange County Health Department began paying visits to coffee shops, bars and cafes, seizing CBD-laced food and warning the company to stop using illegal cannabis or else pay a fine. The Orange County Register reported the new rules were causing a major shift in the trend of widespread use of CBD oil. The rules impacted many L.A. restaurants and bars that were beginning to rely on sales from CBD cocktail and/or supplement. Some businesses reported CBD-laced products account for 30 percent of their business.

Last week, Florida’s new Secretary of Agriculture – who ran partially on increasing access to medical marijuana – recently made a public statement asserting CBD is not legal to sell in Florida. There is, however, a pending bill in the state legislature that proposes a state regulatory framework for cultivation of hemp and quality control for CBD. Mandatory testing and FDA approval would all be part of that, but so far, that measure has not passed. Continue reading