Washington, D.C.—President Trump has requested $5 million dollars to regulate the cannabidiol (CBD) industry in the administration's new FY2021 budget, according to a press release from the Natural Products Association (NPA). The request would allow the FDA to “continue enforcing the law to protect patients and the public while also providing potential regulatory pathways… for products containing cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds.”

NPA, the release says, supports legislation passed by the House of Representatives that would appropriate $100,000 for the FDA to perform a Health Hazard Evaluation and set a safe level of CBD for consumers to use each day.
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Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., President and CEO of NPA, said in the release: “This is a step in the right direction and is an indication that the Agency has the resources to regulate the industry. However, this does not go far enough to specifically address the issue of setting a safe level of daily consumption for CBD products. Setting a safe level of consumption for CBD products is the best way to move forward with this promising new product while protecting consumers.

“The President’s budget request suggests that the FDA will continue to regulate the use of CBD-containing products,” Dr. Fabricant continued. “The language uses the phrase ‘continue to support’ and ‘continue to regulate’ throughout, but this misses the mark. Enforcing on label claims alone does not go far enough. Instead, we encourage the FDA to use this new funding to move on to the next phase of enforcement and establish a safe level of threshold of CBD.”

CBD is far from the only thing in President Trump's budget plan, however. Although more than half of U.S. adults say thatclimate change is the biggest issue facing society today,Trump is asking for a 27% cut in funding to the EPA, according toThe Washington Post. The Energy department would see a cut of 8%, eliminating programs that support clean-energy projects and reducing "burdensome efficiency regulations" while investing in "coal-based products and technologies," thePostsays. Trump is asking for an 8% cut in funding to Agriculture, according to thePost, which means slashing funds available to SNAP by $15 billion and reducing federal crop insurance subsidies.
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Other areas that will see cuts in funding under Trump's proposed budget: Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. ThePostnotes that the reduced budget for the Department of Health and Human Services affects the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 16%.