CBD Industry Dealt Blow In U.S. After Federal Postal Service Bans Shipment of Hemp Vapes

It might have been legal to ship CBD vape products in the U.S. mail at some point. Federal law that legalized the growing and sale of hemp-based CBD back in 2018 seemed to indicate doing so was allowed.

Not anymore.

The United States Postal Service on Wednesday announced that vape products, including those with hemp and marijuana, will fall under its “Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail” categories, effective immediately. The new restrictions start Thursday.

“It goes without saying that marijuana, hemp, and their derivatives are substances,” post office officials say in the new regulation. “Hence, to the extent that they may be delivered to an inhaling user through an aerosolized solution, they and the related delivery systems, parts, components, liquids, and accessories clearly fall within the POSECCA’s (a law banning online vape sales to children) scope.”

The feds acknowledge in the new regulation that it overlaps with the 2018 Farm Bill, but argues that the two laws “do not conflict.” While the Farm Bill took hemp off of the DEA’s controlled substance list, it did not explicitly give vendors the thumbs-up to mail CBD and hemp products.

The postal service is making some small exceptions to the vape ban, though, at least for hemp-based products with under 0.3 percent THC. Vendors in Hawaii and Alaska can ship CBD vapes to one another within their own states. CBD companies will also be allowed to mail products for testing or for reasons related to government interests and public health.

But any cannabis product with over 0.3 percent THC is still completely banned with no exceptions, USPS said, even within marijuana-legal states. The feds sent a not-so-subtle warning to states in the new regulation, contending that the U.S. Department of Justice, a federal entity independent of the Postal Service “may use its appropriated funds to interfere with the operation of state or local laws.”

The added regulations are part of a more widescale federal effort to stop nicotine vaping devices from being mailed, in hopes of cutting down underage buyers’ access to the products. The U.S. Food And Drug Administration considers vaping an “epidemic” and claims that disposable e-cigarette use among high school students reached 26.5 percent in 2020 – a 1,000 percent increase from 2019. Disposable e-cigarette use among middle school students also increased from 3.0 percent to 15.2 percent during that time.