U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Resigns
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced in a statement on March 5 that he will be resigning in one month.
According to Gottlieb, his reasoning behind his retirement is due to a long commute between Washington D.C. and his home in Connecticut, which prevents him from spending time with his family. “I should have moved them down at the outset, but it’s too late to do that now,” he said recently at an event in downtown Washington D.C. He began his role as commissioner in May 2017.
Despite his sudden departure, Gottlieb’s absence is causing some concern amongst the cannabis community. It was during Gottlieb’s time as commissioner that the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 was signed into law in December 2018, which alters the federal approach to regulating CBD products. Earlier last year in September, the FDA also approved the move of CBD products from a Schedule I to Schedule V substance.
Furthermore on March 1, Gottlieb announced that he would be hosting a public forum on CBD regulation, to occur sometime in April. According to Food Navigator, his goal was to create the foundation for CBD regulation. “We’re planning to seek broad public input on this pathway, including information on the science and safety behind CBD,” he stated. “But we know that this process could take time. So we’re also interested in hearing from stakeholders and talking to Congress on possible alternative approaches to make sure that we have an appropriately efficient and predictable regulatory framework for regulating CBD products.”
Gottlieb aimed to manage CBD as a newly reschedule substance, and made it an important goal to tackle. However it is uncertain how the future of establishing framework for CBD will proceed when a new commissioner is appointed. Hopefully the new commissioner will be just as dedicated to public health and the positive movement of CBD in the U.S.
