The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office and Nebraska State Patrol has sent a letter to county attorneys and law enforcement advising them that CBD products are not legal in the state, less than two weeks after some retailers began selling the products, according to a KETV report.
“To date no drug products containing cannabidiol have received FDA approval,” the memo states. “Therefore cannabidiol or any product containing cannabidiol, obtained by any means other than the authorized UNMC study, remains illegal to possess, manufacture, distribute.”
Donald Anderson, owner of CBD American Shaman on Omaha, argued that the products sold at his shop contain less than 0.3 percent THC – the allowable limit for industrial hemp classification – and that if his products are illegal then so are a host of other cosmetic and food items being sold freely throughout the U.S.
“They’re classifying what I’m selling as a marijuana product, which it is not,” Anderson said in the report. “It is an industrial hemp product.”
However, Douglas County Chief Deputy Attorney Brenda Beadle said she disagrees with Anderson, and sides with the opinion of the attorney general’s office – who claim that the only authorized entity to possess, manufacture, or distribute CBD is the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
“We agree that the statute would include CBDs, so technically it would be under a violation of possession of marijuana,” she said.