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#2206626 - 02/20/19 08:35 PM CBD Oil Business
Compliance Lover Offline
Platinum Poster
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 555
I've been reading through some of the posts as well as information on the Farm Bill that passed in December. Am I correct that if you wanted to bank a CBD oil business and it be legal at the federal level, you would need to prove somehow that they have less than the 0.3% THC in their product? I guess you would need to have proof they are licensed? I don't believe they would be considered a MRB as far as filing SARs. Is that correct? It doesn't sound like Fincen has specifically provided a ruling on those other than to say you have to file on MRB's only. I'm just wondering what others are doing. At a recent seminar I went to no one in the room banked them period but I figured these little CBD oil shops that are popping up surely have to be banking somewhere.

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#2206658 - 02/21/19 03:28 AM Re: CBD Oil Business Compliance Lover
Patriot Offline
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 29
CBD oil can be made from hemp or marijuana. It is difficult to prove the thc levels. Most banks around here are not touching them.
Fincen has not clarified if they are considered a MRB. I have asked.

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#2206696 - 02/21/19 04:14 PM Re: CBD Oil Business Patriot
Compliance Lover Offline
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 555
Thank you!

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#2207149 - 02/26/19 07:09 PM Re: CBD Oil Business Compliance Lover
Pat Patriot Act Offline
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Pat Patriot Act
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 450
As of today, CBD oil is still a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act. There is currently only one product which can legally be sold at the federal level - Epidiolex. Note that this is a Schedule V substance, meaning that it must be prescribed by a doctor.

The Food and Drug Administration considers hemp to be "generally recognized as safe." Therefore, hemp products can be sold via interstate commerce so long as the source was legal. Generally speaking, the 2018 Farm Bill made industrial hemp much easier to grow legally, which should reasonably eliminate questions about the legality of the source for these hemp products (that was the issue pre-bill).

Businesses that sell CBD Oil are *going* to tell you that it's legal - they're sick of getting hassled and/or having no place to bank. Trouble is - they're either lying to get a bank account or lying to consumers to capitalize on the cannabis marketing trend. If they're selling *real* CBD, it's still illegal federally. If they're selling "hemp extract" marketed as CBD, then it's not real CBD. From a SAR filing perspective, selling real CBD is more obviously problematic, whereas questionable advertising is a bit more of a gray area.

I'll give an example. I went to a gas station that was selling a product purporting to be "CBD Gummies." Out of curiosity, I looked at the ingredients. Reading the package, I saw one of the main ingredients was l-theanine, a calming/anti-anxiety amino acid most well-known for being in green tea. The product was supposedly tested by an independent lab, but who knows since it's not regulated. Why would a manufacturer bother to spend money adding that to *real* CBD product, which is supposed to have an even stronger calming effect?

Anyway, bottom line, CBD is not federally legal yet. And any product manufacturer making that claim is either selling real CBD illegally or selling fake CBD.
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CFE, CAMS

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