Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Evan Bush

FDA WARNS SEATTLE-AREA FIRMS SELLING CANNABIS PET PRODUCTS

Therapeutic Claims Made in Marketing Challenged

Agency Says Little If Any Cbd Found in Products

Let's say your dog has seizures or chronic pain from arthritis. 
Living in pot-friendly Western Washington, you figure he might 
benefit from medical cannabis.

You look around and find a handful of new companies offering 
cannabis-infused biscuits and capsules made for pets. That's quite a 
lucky find for Fido, right?

Not so fast, says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The agency 
recently sent warning letters to such companies based in Seattle and Sultan.

But it's not CBD, a non-psychoactive compound in cannabis, that the 
feds complained about. The FDA took issue with the companies' 
marketing, specifically claims that the products help with symptoms 
of cancer, dementia and asthma.

Companies in other states marketing similar products to people 
received letters from the FDA, as well, but the agency gave no 
indication how it would treat the growing, legally gray market for CBD oil.

In its letter to Seattle's CannaPet, the FDA noted that the company 
promotes its product as especially beneficial for pets with "nausea, 
chronic pain, cancer, seizures," among other maladies.

The FDA's letter to Canna Companion, based in Sultan, Snohomish 
County, cited similar concerns.

Jeff Ventura, a senior adviser at the FDA, said in an email that the 
companies were selected for warning letters "in part, based on the 
egregiousness of the therapeutic claims made about their products and 
the determination that inaction posed a potential risk to public health."

Lisa Anderson, a co-owner of Canna Companion, reiterated Wednesday 
that the warning letter was not about the company's products, but 
about the wording of claims about health benefits.

She said the company was adjusting its website and working with the 
FDA to fix any problems, but she said that the company believes in 
its products and that it's not just the CBD that helps ease symptoms, 
but other compounds in the formula help as well.

Messages and emails to Canna-Pet requesting comment were not returned 
Wednesday.

Justin Prochnow, a Colorado attorney who specializes in food and drug 
safety, said the focus on marketing was revealing. He said the FDA 
could have used the letters to give the industry its opinion on CBD. 
"There's some gray area whether CBD oil is a permissible ingredient 
in supplemental products ... these letters were silent on that," Prochnow said.

Instead, he said, the agency chose a soft target: Blatant drug claims 
are problematic for any substance if it hasn't undergone a 
drug-approval process.

University of Washington Assistant Dean of Law Sean O'Connor said 
agencies such as the FDA are realizing they need policies on cannabis.

"Federal agencies can't just hide behind the Department of Justice 
and say the whole thing's illegal and DOJ should step in," he said.

"What they're mainly trying to focus on now, is look: If someone's 
blatantly trying to make medical claims out to the public, we can't 
not do anything anymore," he said.

Martin Lee, the director of Project CBD, an organization focused on 
cannabis science and therapeutics, said unregulated companies making 
CBD oil are "popping up all over the place," and he added that lack 
of regulation makes it difficult to figure out who is legitimate.

"The fact that these reprimands were handed down by the FDA are 
indications of the amateur nature of these companies," Lee said. "You 
can't make claims; everybody knows that."

Lee said those who want to produce CBD oil also a face a legal 
quagmire because federal prohibition of marijuana and hemp makes most 
production of CBD oil either illegal or not practical.

Moreover, he said, the latest research shows CBD and THC, the 
psychoactive compound in cannabis, work together to provide 
therapeutic effects. "It's not just about CBD; THC is important, 
too," Lee said.

He said the FDA is handcuffed politically because of positive news 
stories about CBD's therapeutic qualities.

"It puts them in an awkward spot to move against this stuff," Lee said.

That might change. On Tuesday, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Cory Booker, 
D-N. J.; and Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y., proposed a bill that would 
overhaul how the U.S. government treats cannabis, downgrading the 
psychoactive version of the drug from Schedule I to Schedule II, 
which would allow for more research. It also would drop some highCBD 
cannabis from federal regulation.

The FDA tested the products of both companies making products for pets.

According to the results published on the FDA's website, CBD 
accounted for just a tenth of a percent of a Canna Companion capsule.

Three Canna-Pet products were tested. No CBD was found in the 
company's dog biscuits, Canna-Pet for Cats contained 0.5 percent CBD 
and the company's "MaxCBD" capsules had about 2.6 percent CBD.

Randy Oliver, Chief Scientist at Analytical 360, a state-approved 
marijuana-testing lab, said it's difficult to know if trace amounts 
of CBD have an effect on animals because there's so little 
information on the biological effects of CBD on animals.

Oliver said he was "floored" that companies would market and sell 
products with such low levels of CBD, or none at all.

"That would infuriate me as a consumer if I was trying to treat my 
dog and the product didn't have anything in it," Oliver said.

Patricia Talcott, professor and veterinary diagnostic toxicologist at 
Washington State University, said she isn't aware of any controlled 
studies that have been published dealing with the use of CBD products 
for animals.

Cherri Trusheim, a veterinarian at Urban Animal in Seattle's Capitol 
Hill neighborhood, said it was, "Only a matter of time before we 
started talking about medical marijuana for pets.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom