Customs confiscating legal CBD products because it can't test it

CBD products derived from hemp is completely legalized in the federal Farm Bill - but it looks like GovGuam didn't get the memo.

Unlike marijuana (cannabis), CBD is hemp-derived with just trace amounts of THC. The threshold for legal CBD is 0.3%.

The products have gone mainstream. National retailers like CVS, Walgreen's, Bed Bath and Beyond are cashing in on the latest natural health super remedy. It's commonly used to treat anxiety, chronic pain, inflammation, depression, nausea - even acne.

The FDA approved the first CBD product recently, and that medicine is used to treat seizures in children.

All the buzz on CBD has reached Guam, where the products are readily available at a few stores. Nick Brown runs the Releaf Shop and he tells KUAM News most of his customers are manamko' and women.

"They're looking for an alternative to Tylenol or ibuprofen because a lot of people are trying to deal with pain and inflammation," he told KUAM News. "And help balance out their anxiety pretty much."

So if CBD products are legal around the country, why is Customs and Quarantine seizing them?

Brown says he's had thousands of dollars in CBD goods taken by Customs and while the U.S. Postal Service requires a manufacturer's certification to mail products, that isn't exactly the most business-friendly way to ship something.

"I guess we're a little bit behind on times and they didn't get the memorandum," he said. "Everything we're bringing in has been federally legalized."

Customs Director Ike Peredo says his agency has seized a wide variety of CBD products.

"We have oil, gummy bears, dog food...they come in different types," he told KUAM News.

Peredo says the department doesn't have tests that measure THC percentages - a nationwide problem that is hindering consumers' access to legal CBD remedies. The standard-issued customs test basically yields negative or positive results, which could read the trace amounts in CBD products as a false-positive. 

Brown, however, said his products are tested by the manufacturer.

Customs will be looking for lab results from the factory for CBD shipments, Peredo said, which should clear future shipments. But he acknowledges his agency is seizing from small business products that are completely legal, and the owners of these products are giving him an earful. And what are they saying?

"Hey back in the U.S. mainland all of these things are moving from one state to another," Peredo said.

But it looks like GovGuam red tape is stalling the release of CBD products, as Peredo says Public Health is now studying the labeling of these items.

"Once I get the report that they have completed reviewing those labeling requirements, I will release those products," he said.

But that may be easier said than done as Public Health head Linda Denorcey tells KUAM she has sent pictures of seized product labels off to the FDA, and she says "compliance review may include lab testing which will require the products to be sent" off island to the FDA.

To Brown, that sounds a lot like the run around he's heard before.

"Public Health has been saying that its customs and then when we ask customs who's in charge and who we get the products from they blame it on Public Health," he said.