A top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official says the agency retains authority to remove cannabis-infused foods and drinks from the market, though that level of enforcement action is rare and is most commonly executed by local law enforcement.
During a hearing before the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health on Tuesday, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods James Jones was repeatedly pressed on the agency’s ability to prevent intoxicating cannabis products, including federally legal hemp derivatives, from being commercially sold.
While he said marijuana was generally not in FDA’s purview considering that it’s a federally controlled substance and therefore largely in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) jurisdiction, any food or beverage containing an unapproved “adulterant” such as THC is subject to market removal by FDA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act.
The full committee chair, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), raised concerns about THC-infused edibles that she said are turning up in schools in her district and asked Jones whether FDA could “seize” such products or issue fines against companies selling, manufacturing or distributing them.
“We can certainly remove those products from the market,” he said.
That said, as Jones indicated, FDA has largely focused
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