Marijuana Moment
A congressional committee has scheduled a hearing for next week focused on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), inviting a hemp industry representative to testify on how the agency “failed” to approve certain products such as CBD.
The House Oversight Committee hearing—titled “Restoring Trust in FDA: Rooting Out Illicit Products”—is set to take place on Wednesday.
FDA “failed to approve products and take necessary enforcement actions resulting in a flood of illicit and counterfeit products entering the country,” a memo on the hearing says.
The meeting won’t exclusively focus on cannabis issues. But among the four listed witnesses selected to testify is Jonathan Miller of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, an organization that has long criticized FDA’s inaction on CBD and other cannabinoid regulations since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.
Miller told Marijuana Moment on Friday that he expects the hearing to be “wide-ranging,” but his testimony will concentrate on “all the challenges the hemp industry has been having by the FDA’s failure to regulate our products.”
He said that his testimony will serve as an “update” on issues he outlined during a 2023 hearing before a subcommittee of the full panel, where lawmakers raised concerns about FDA’s refusal to establish rules allowing for the marketing of federally legal hemp as a food item or dietary supplement.
Chairman Comer Announces Hearing on Rooting Out Illicit Products and Restoring Trust in FDA
WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today announced a hearing on “Restoring Trust in FDA: Rooting Out Illicit Products.” At the hearing, expert witnesses will testify on the necessary steps to reduce inefficiencies and bureaucracy at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This includes accelerating the approval of effective, innovative products, preventing illicit and counterfeit goods from entering the U.S., and ensuring a safe and healthy food supply.
“President Trump is taking action to Make America Healthy Again, rolling back the disastrous policies of the Biden Administration that put bureaucracy ahead of Americans. The Biden FDA stifled innovation with red tape while allowing counterfeit and dangerous products to flood our communities. The Biden border crisis only made things worse, allowing illicit drugs and unsafe goods to come into our country. President Trump’s crackdown at the southern border is already limiting the influx of illicit products coming into our nation. With newly confirmed FDA Commissioner Makary, we finally have a leader who will put Americans’ safety first, not special interests and bureaucrats. We look forward to working together to restore integrity to our food and drug supply and hearing from our expert witnesses on how we can achieve this goal,” said Chairman Comer.
WHAT: Hearing on “Restoring Trust in FDA: Rooting Out Illicit Products”
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 2025
TIME: 10:00 AM ET
LOCATION: HVC-210
WITNESSES:
- Guy Bentley, Director of Consumer Freedom at Reason Foundation
- Jonathan Miller, General Counsel at Hemp Roundtable and Partner-in-Charge at Frost, Brown, Todd
- Richard Williams, Senior Affiliated Scholar at the Mercatus Center
- Shabbir Imber Safdar, Executive Director, The Partnership for Safe Medicines
RSVP: Media must RSVP by Tuesday, April 8 at 5p ET. Email here to RSVP.
WATCH: The livestream can be found here.
