I’m guilty of dunking on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the past for not doing more to protect cannabis consumers, despite the current federal illegality of cannabis. That may be changing, at least with respect to CBD consumers.
Before diving into this latest development, I should mention that historically, cannabis is treated differently from federal agency to federal agency. Here are some of the high level examples:
Now, the FTC is finally getting around to helping CBD consumers, it seems.
The FTC’s self-proclaimed mission is to “prevent business practices that are anticompetitive or deceptive or unfair to consumers; to enhance informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process; and to accomplish this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.” Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, one of the main standards guiding FTC enforcement is to prevent “unfair methods of competition, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”
Read that again. There’s no mention of lawful commerce, just commerce, which leaves the door open for FTC enforcement against state-legal marijuana businesses. And when it comes to cannabis and public policy, the FTC is much closer to the NLRB than, let’s say, the IRS. Both the FTC and
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