Healthy INSIDER podcast: reporters explore, debate Impact of FDA approval of CBD medicineHealthy INSIDER podcast: reporters explore, debate Impact of FDA approval of CBD medicine

In this podcast, Informa reporters Todd Runestad and Josh Long weigh in on FDA's recent approval of Epidiolex, a CBD medicine to treat seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy.

Runestad—ingredients and supplements editor with New Hope Network—described the development as a "landmark move" and "quite earthshaking."

"This flies in the face of decades of political rhetoric, public policy and the legal standards underpinning cannabis prohibition," Runestad, a veteran journalist who has been writing on nutrition science since 1997, said.

Long—legal editor for Natural Products INSIDER—noted FDA has consistently asserted CBD can't be lawfully sold in dietary supplements.

He argued the risks of enforcement action from FDA have increased now that a CBD drug has been approved by FDA. He also maintained the sale of so-called hemp extracts doesn't insulate a company from FDA enforcement action.

"You can call it a hemp extract, but if FDA goes out there and tests and finds that the majority of your product consists of CBD, and the other cannabinoids are found in minute amounts, I think there could be a serious problem there," Long said.

Runestad, however, argued it's less risky now to be in the CBD space, and he suggested FDA's recent decision will serve to increase the already widespread consumer awareness of CBD.

Concluded the reporter: "I'm beginning to buy into the idea that cannabis is the biggest natural product in the history of natural products."

Click the play button to hear the podcast in its entirety.