CBD + Updated Safety Guide + Online Accessibility Act + Small Business Support + Risk Mitigation

As governments and regulatory bodies loosen their rules on hemp-related products, including the legalization of marijuana, the cannabidiol, or CBD, market has grown at remarkably high rates. One projection by BDS analytics and Arcview Market Research puts the overall CBD market at $20 billion by 20241. Combining the CBD market with the legal marijuana market, projections by BDS hit $45 billion2. Industries affected by the legalization of cannibus-related products include cosmetics, food and beverage, and jewelry and pharmaceuticals, and with the rapid expansion of this market, a large section of the US economy will be involved in CBD use or production by 2024.

As of 2019, many channels of CBD distribution are untracked – driven by small dispensaries and independent cannabis farmers who are typically missed by USDA and USFDA regulations as a result of loopholes in the Farm Bill of 2014, thereby posing a potential threat to consumers. Legal CBD can be extracted or purified from hemp variations of Cannabis sativa plants, whereas marijuana variations of Cannabis sativa, which also produce CBD, are currently outlawed for consumer use by the Federal government. Legal hemp plants are not regulated federally and consumer products from these plants are often not regulated at any level, leading to potential safety issues for consumers.

New Online Accessibility Act Introduced To Congress

October 13, 2020 via Georgia Restaurant Assocation

As lawsuits over Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility on websites and mobile apps became increasingly common — including a high-profile case involving Domino’s, which went to the Supreme Court in October 2019 — Congress has just introduced the bipartisan-supported Online Accessibility Act, which would extend the legislative breadth of the ADA. Under this extension, businesses would have to make their websites accessible to visually impaired users.