Politics
Pets Will ‘Suffer Needlessly’ If Federal Hemp Ban Takes Effect And Limits CBD Access, Veterinarian Says
The federal hemp ban that was included in a spending bill President Donald Trump signed last week could inadvertently hurt a patient demographic that isn’t usually associated with cannabis: Dogs, cats and other pets who’ve come to rely on cannabinoids as part of their veterinary medical care.
As certain GOP lawmakers in Congress pressed for a policy change to prevent the sale of consumable hemp products, the narrative often revolved around the idea that a strict ban would close a “loophole” in the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized the crop, leading to the expansion of an often unregulated market for intoxicating cannabinoids.
But while there’s broad consensus that gas station THC vapes and copycat hemp edibles appealing to youth should be addressed, stakeholders and advocates say that narrative paints an incomplete picture, as the language included in appropriations legislation that’s set to take effect next year threatens to upend legitimate enterprises as well—including those that provide access to CBD for pets.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) attempted to distance himself from that argument before Congress passed the bill with the hemp provisions. He said that the Farm Bill and hemp legalization provisions he championed were always meant to be about industrial uses, and CBD products would be spared even with a ban on intoxicating elements of the plant.
The way the law is written, however, will permit such limited concentrations of THC that most growers and manufacturers say the idea of a CBD carve-out is infeasible. And for companies marketing such non-intoxicating products, that could spell doom—or at least force them to take on the significant added cost of extracting CBD isolates so as not to run afoul of the law.
Tim Shu, founder and CEO of the company VetCBD, tells Marijuana Moment that the passage of the appropriations legislation is cause for concern for animal companions, many of which have found relief from conditions such as arthritis, epilepsy, pain and other health conditions with the help of CBD.
Just like the 0.3 percent THC by dry weight limit that currently defines hemp, the more restrictive THC limit prescribed under the newly enacted law is “arbitrary,” Shu said. He also stressed the importance of the “entourage effect” for cannabis that makes it so having the plant’s natural ingredients—THC, CBD, terpenes and other compounds—work together often enhances their therapeutic efficacy.
“If the rule stays unchanged, then essentially anyone that’s producing CBD products from hemp are going to have to use CBD isolate,” he said. “And the problem with that is that we know from increasing evidence that the entourage effect does have benefits—it does appear to be a real thing.”
“This is something that people tend to forget about. Everyone’s thinking about intoxicating hemp properties, right? The delta-9, delta-8 THC stuff that you can find at gas stations. But the reality is that there are a lot of people and animals that rely on full-spectrum CBD products from hemp to not suffer,” Shu said. “And as usual, the neediest suffer the most.”
If the ban goes into effect, which is set to happen one year after enactment, then “what’s going to happen is people have limited access, so they’re not going to be able to get full-spectrum anymore—especially ones that are in states that don’t have access to dispensaries, or the dispensaries are very far away from them,” he said.
To that point, the hemp market is unlikely to disappear altogether with a federal ban. Marijuana remains federally illegal, yet a vast majority of states provides access to medical cannabis—and nearly half have legalized marijuana for adult use. Certain states like Minnesota and California have enacted regulations that more closely align policies for intoxicating hemp with those applied to marijuana.
But for hemp businesses selling cannabinoid products across state lines, as is often the case, the complications of a federal ban would be compounded. Even if a state where a hemp company is headquartered allows products to be manufactured and sold outside of the federal law, those businesses could no longer lawfully reach a national customer base via interstate commerce.
The market for pet-specific hemp products is relatively small—even if it’s increasingly relied on by pet owners seeking alternative treatments for their companions. So that niche market is especially vulnerable to dramatic shifts in federal policy, which Shu says is problematic in large part because research has indicated that CBD for animals like dogs, cats and horses. It could be a particularly important alternative when other organs like the kidneys and liver can’t tolerate traditional medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories.
The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) went so far as to promote a study last year that it says shows CBD is “safe for long-term use” in dogs.
Shu said that, beyond broadly limiting access, a federal hemp ban could have a chilling effect within the veterinarian community that’s come to embrace CBD. VetCBD was among the organizations that helped secure that passage of state-level legislation in California that provided protections for veterinarians that discussed or recommended cannabis to patients—and he’s concerned that the federal policy change could undermine that progress.
“I’ve been doing this for 11 years now, and what I’ve seen is, especially in animals, these products can literally be a lifesaver,” he said. “You have a lot of times where people are considering euthanasia—which is death—and they try a cannabis product or a CBD product that has THC in it, and it actually works. It works incredibly well in some cases.”
“People forget that this is part of the conversation, too: These cannabinoids are actually life-saving in a lot of cases—and they certainly relieve a lot of suffering and improve quality of life for a lot of people and animals,” he said.
“The reality is that a lot of people forget that the neediest are the ones that will suffer the most from this, because there are huge medicinal aspects of full-spectrum CBD being sourced from hemp that relieve a lot of pain and suffering out there for both humans. And animals and people don’t realize that by taking those options away, they’re basically going to cause those people and animals to suffer needlessly.”
Meanwhile, a case study from last year found that cannabis appears to be a “viable alternative” treatment option for dogs suffering from a common skin disease—especially if they experience adverse side effects from conventional steroid therapies.
Another study that was published that year indicated that dogs that receive daily doses of CBD see “significant reductions” in stress and anxiety related to car travel.
Other studies have demonstrated benefits of CBD such as reduced frequency of seizures among dogs who receive the cannabinoid. Also, a study published in 2018 found that dogs with arthritis see improvements with CBD treatment.
