While “UK CBD Industry Sees Light at the End of the Tunnel: First Authorized Products Expected by Spring 2025” suggests optimism, it’s worth asking whether this light is progress or simply the train barrelling towards an already battered CBD industry.
Extended Regulatory Timeline
Spring/Summer 2025 will mark nearly seven years since the FSA first started the novel foods process in 2018. Seven years. It’s hardly surprising that businesses are exhausted. A drawn-out process that should have provided clarity has instead left many on the brink.
Industry Contraction
This delay hasn’t just caused frustration—it’s cost the industry dearly. Up to 50% of businesses have exited the market altogether. Some ran out of time, others ran out of money. So, while this “light” may signal movement, it arrives far too late for many who simply couldn’t hang on.
Conservative Safety Thresholds
Then there’s the 10 mg Acceptable Daily Intake. Despite evidence suggesting higher levels are perfectly safe, the FSA has taken an overly cautious stance that feels more like an anchor than a safety net. For products relying on broad-spectrum or full-spectrum CBD, this threshold isn’t just restrictive—it’s reductive, curbing innovation and consumer choice.
Legal Complications: THC Content
Let’s not forget the tangled mess of THC compliance. By aligning with the Home Office’s Exempt Product Criteria, products risk being caught in a regulatory no-man’s land—food on one hand, controlled substance on the other. If you’re a business trying to do everything by the book, it feels like the rules keep getting rewritten mid-chapter.
Protecting Vulnerable Groups: A Balancing Act
Of course, protecting vulnerable groups is important. But mandatory warnings, restrictions on marketing, and additional compliance layers are piling on just as businesses try to stay afloat. Protecting public health is one thing. Overregulating an already fragile industry is another.
Consultation or Box-Ticking?
The public consultation planned for early 2025 is being billed as an opportunity for engagement. The question is: will this be a genuine chance for industry voices to be heard, or just another exercise in box-ticking? After all this time, businesses deserve more than token gestures.
The Light or the Train?
The FSA’s timeline and plans may sound promising, but it’s hard to shake the sense that this “progress” is arriving far too late. For many businesses, the damage has already been done. The cautious approach to safety limits, the regulatory delays, and the legal confusion leave the CBD industry with little room to breathe. So, is this the light at the end of the tunnel, or the train reminding us how far off track we’ve come?
Published: February 20th 2025
