The Legal Importance Of Understanding Between Legal CBD, And Illegal CBD

They’re the same molecule. One kind of CBD can get your kids reported to DHS, as internal emails to state employees showed last week. The other kind is specifically codified in Iowa law to not allow DHS interference — meaning legislators explicitly told DHS to not go after people if they have a medical cannabidiol card.

So why the confusion? For one, the mere fact that Iowans at stores selling CBD would sell something to their neighbors that could get them in trouble confuses consumers. Why would good, honest Iowans sell us CBD, consumers ask, if we could get in trouble with the law?

That’s because these Iowa businesses, unfortunately, are not being totally honest. And the ones that think they are being honest, have been lied to themselves.

cbd confusion

The full context of this situation makes this plain for anyone with eyes to read. At first, even I mistakenly thought CBD was legal. When law enforcement raided Muscatine CBD stores, I wrote about it in the Iowa Free Press. My article, Carroll Police Breaking Laws To Seize Legal Hemp CBD, came out in April of 2018. By March of 2019, after email exchanges with national legal counsel at NORML, as well as talks with multiple Iowa law enforcement and County Attorneys, I not only backtracked and corrected my stance on CBD, I spread the word to everyone in Iowa that I could to let them know CBD was not only illegal, but people were going to get arrested.

And then they did.

Before Iowans were arrested I was warning people publicly. Here’s one of many warnings. From March 2019:

https://www.weareiowa.com/news/local-news/story-county-warns-of-illegal-cbd-products-sold-in-iowa/

The only way to get your hands on CBD is to go through Iowa’s medical marijuana system. You have to get your qualifying condition certified by a doctor and apply for the card through the Iowa DOT. If you have the card, you can buy CBD at one of the five dispensaries in the state.

Jason Karimi is a medical marijuana activist. He is the executive director of Iowa patient’s for medical marijuana. But he agrees with Story County, and says the law is the law.

“I sympathize with people, I sympathize with their customers, I definitely understand the pain, because I deal with it as well,“ Karimi said. “I could benefit from using CBD. But I can’t do that in good conscious or tell other people to do it when I know for a fact it is illegal because I can read the law in plain English like anyone else.“

Moving forward Story County is trying to educate the community and hopes that stores will pull their products.

“I hope that people will correct their behavior, so we don’t have to go any further with investigation and prosecution,“ said Reynolds.

Officials on all sides of this hope that the legislature can get laws into place that make regulating CBD oil easier for everyone involved.

That last sentence about officials hoping the legislature can get laws to regulate CBD oil better is important. More on that easy — as well as inevitable — solution to Iowa CBD laws soon.

Some people in the CBD community’s response to my admonitions and warnings was somewhat predictable. Anger, frustration, and even threatening emails and phone calls came flooding in. I fielded dozens of questions, dozens of accusations, and a handful of direct physical threats, in response to my neutral and objective reporting on the developing legal issues surrounding CBD.

CBD Is Illegal Under Federal Law And Iowa Law || John Wills Iowa State Representative

On top of that, the advocacy community attacked MedPharm, and the legal CBD industry, for being in competition with illegal CBD sellers. To the “charge” that CBD competition exists among businesses, I have two answers, and they are long.

One: for any stoner who has watched Weeds on Showtime, remember that scene where Nancy rats out her illegal drug dealing competition to take over the customers at the office building? One drug dealer can always “snitch” out another to make money in the black market. That’s your competition if your product is illegal. It is not MedPharm’s fault, nor anyone else’s, if you get arrested for selling something illegal. That’s your fault. Literally get over it. Drug dealing is a terrible business to get into, and that’s what you business you are in moving forward if you still sell CBD. It’s the black market, not the grey. And, only you are the one who could have prevented legal troubles for yourself on this one. Stop blaming others for your personal problems. It’s not like the cops are planting drugs on you, so stop crying, and go legalize what you’re selling, because until then — I’m not buying.

Nobody in adult world believes you don’t understand the law, and when they find out your legal defense is essentially, “But it was legal once two years ago and I didn’t know any better,” they might not end up respecting you, because you don’t sound like the smartest when all these lawmakers, lawyers, marijuana organizations, and someone as clueless as me, are so publicly warning and educating you on the actual law.

Probationer In Northern Iowa Tests Positive For THC After Using CBD Only Products | Has Never Used Marijuana In Their Life

The second answer is, of course the legal CBD industry wants to make money. Of course illegal CBD is a competition to the CBD only Iowa program. CBD is also competition to the black market for marijuana, and, it’s competition to the legal marijuana market. Pointing that out is all fine and well, but when CBD sellers at well known businesses throughout Iowa attacked, repeatedly, and for months on end, the legal industry and people who follow the law, they did so without any evidence whatsoever, and to the harm of Iowa’s ability to clear the smoke behind these confusing CBD issues.

Here’s the bottom line: reality is what it is, and it must be changed before CBD can be sold legally.

I understand why a substantial number of CBD sellers throughout Iowa’s wild west industry of illegal CBD products don’t trust the government to legalize CBD without pushing them out of the market, so they either oppose outright CBD legislation, or they are too hesitant to want to push for it. That may have changed now that a CBD seller was charged with three felonies, but these salespeople are so self-righteous (that’s not a criticism) about their cause, they are in my personal opinion blinded somehow by emotion and tragedy too much so to take the objectively reasonable track, which is to lobby the Iowa legislature to legalize CBD.

In case anyone wants to know, I have already done as much as I am willing to do to push for legalization initiatives at the Capitol. My priority is actual marijuana. When I was attacked for CBD legislation attempts, I dropped it. I see the issue as a distraction from ending the drug war, and an intentional red herring that has distracted from a real discussion on the repulsive impact of the drug war on our communities which has far exceeded the harms of the drugs themselves.

capitol One: this CBD situation is easily resolved. First problem is, stores like the Corner Store Apothecary that are still selling illegal CBD and others need called out, respectfully at first, then more forcefully if need be. They aren’t being honest. You have the right to both publicly buy and sell products. You have the right to publicly advocate and lobby. You do not have the right to not inform consumers of the dangers of the products you sell or mislead the public on the legality. Law enforcement was, yes, in the past, looking the other way. They are now prosecuting. That’s a bigger deal that is not worthy of being ignored for the third year running. Since that has changed, and since it is a new year,I am again renewing my call for CBD legislation to legalize over the counter CBD at the statehouse. CBD people who are worried about profit over consumer safety and legal security may scoff, but in the end, it’s beyond obvious the right thing to do for Iowans.

Idea: Ask Rep Cindy Axne To Introduce CBD Bill To Protect Iowans, Both Law Enforcement, And Patients (Aren’t Law Enforcement Patients too??? PTSD?)

Nobody involved, especially myself who doesn’t make a dime off of reporting or advocating for legal cannabis regulations, wants to see CBD not be able to be sold. The law is the law and needs reported on. Even if this is some evil conspiracy to shut down small businesses — it is most definitely not that, so stop playing like it is — the solution is easy: legalize over the counter CBD. I care not two whits about who makes money or who controls the market. My complaint is simple: stop violating my individual liberty. I have the liberty to take whatever I want, whenever I want, and should be trusted to be educated enough to make smart personal decisions. The law, and liberty, does not guarantee that we outlaw everything dangerous. I like swings, and I also like skinny dipping. As long as I’m not harming you, those should not be outlawed for my safety. Drug policy was never about science, or doing what is right, but political power and oppression. Ending the drug war includes CBD, but it does not stop there, and CBD is a distraction at best at this point. Legalize marijuana, and research psychedelics. Humanity needs these value changing, connecting substances to combat what is real evil out there in the world, the root of which is disconnection and isolation.

This should be relatively easy. Nobody has introduced CBD legislation yet. In 2020 let’s protect Iowa families, and Iowa patients, from confusion, dishonest salesmen ignoring relevant changing legal realities, and pass some legislation to clear up this issue once and for all. The entire drug war is idiotic. It was never based on science. It’s government overreach, and prohibition makes drug dangers worse to society, not less. End it, and follow science and health recommendations. The punitive criminal justice system is no place for soccer moms.

cbd bust