It’s buzzy, it’s under mass consumption, and it’s taking the internet by storm. CBD products containing less than .3% THC may have been cleared from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition of and rules for marijuana, but they are still subject to federal marketing laws and a growing variety of state laws pertaining to the minimum age to purchase, manufacturing, sale and shipment, to name a few.
The rules for selling hemp-derived (less than .3% THC) CBD products are often a source of confusion for consumers and business owners alike. And there’s no guessing at why. In the CBD industry, regulations change quickly and rarely are they consistent from state to state. In some states CBD is legal and regulated, in others it’s legal and unregulated, and in still others there are unique clauses that deem CBD its own beast, subject to unique rules. Websites selling CBD containing small enough amounts of THC to be considered legal in most states often use age verification software to block sales to states with a zero THC policy. At their discretion, they may choose to block CBD sales to states where the rules are nascent or unclear as well. As we see, there is more to age verification software than confirming your buyers' age. The best CBD age verification solution will include capabilities that go far beyond.
Certain state laws allow CBD for medical purposes, under certain conditions. Manufacturers and distributors of CBD are starting to use online age verification as the step to determine if their website users are eligible to create a wholesale account, for example. It’s easy to see why selling CBD online presents unique challenges for ecommerce businesses selling across the U.S. The list for CBD industry nuances goes on, and as new chapters continue to be written AgeChecker.Net offers settings that are easy to adjust in real time to help businesses to stay compliant with such fluid regulations.
While many websites choose to enforce a minimum age policy for CBD products in the U.S. with third party age verification software, it may also be used to apply country-specific settings for selling outside the U.S. AgeChecker.Net will pick up your customer’s IP address at checkout to determine if they are ordering from outside of the U.S., then refer to settings you have specified, such as block the sale, use our full solution (ID review) to confirm their identity, implement a simple age gate for them to self-certify age, or disable age verification completely. Any of these settings, as well as an electronic signature collection feature, may be applied on a country level or by U.S. state, county, city, or zip code.
Even though CBD products containing less than .3% THC have distinguished themselves as a unique entity not subject to the same rules as higher THC content products, many industry stakeholders observe the tobacco/vape industry’s maturing regulations as a potential precedent for “cousin” products like CBD. In response, many of the top CBD websites are implementing age verification in anticipation of new rules and to set a standard within their industry. Even advocates of CBD have agreed that further research should be conducted and further consumer safety measures be put in place before it is available for sale to minors. Given the multi-partisan nature of the CBD industry, a website may not want its CBD products showing up on the doorsteps of disapproving parents, shipped straight to their kids, purely for the sake of brand reputation, not in reflection of their own stances about selling CBD.
Vape products, which fall under FDA's rules for tobacco, are commonly sold together with CBD products. If your CBD product can be used with a vape product (e.g. e-juice, pre-filled CBD vape cartridges, disposable CBD vape devices, CBD cigarettes, smokable CBD flower, etc.). The intersection where CBD is combined with vape and tobacco products is growing, and it is all subject to FDA's rules for tobacco. Many CBD websites that offer a section of smokeable or vapable CBD products use AgeChecker.Net only for those products, as most ecommerce platforms will allow us to use product tags and customer groups to apply your rules for age verification. Your customers buying CBD lotion could bypass age verification while those buying CBD vape cartridges would have to be age approved to complete checkout.
All in all many factors, legal and otherwise, create a gray area for CBD businesses. CBD’s popularity and increasing demand is spurring rulemakers to act quickly, though. Until compliance guidelines are black and white (and seem to be sticking), is your CBD website keeping up with the mix of different laws? Our prediction is it may take a while for universal, established governance of CBD products in the U.S. Until then, we encourage websites to stay informed of rules, stay informed of proposals, familiarize yourself with our new settings specially designed to stay abreast of industry laws, implement them with one click, and let us handle the rest.
At the end of the day, ask yourself this: do you want to set the example in the CBD industry by helping shape standards for online sales, or the example made by a federal or state enforcement effort set out to prevent its illegal sale? Regulatory technology is designed to protect your business from the expenses and lost business that arise from non-compliance and reputational damage.
Email contact@agechecker.net or call us at 1-888-276-2303 for more information or to set up a 30 day free trial. You can find a live demo of AgeChecker.net here.
AgeChecker.Net strives to provide a variety of industry-relevant features so that businesses can leverage the versatility of age verification technology for purposes beyond simple ID checks. We handle age verification so you don’t have to, providing an easy-to-use advanced management system and simple integration options for an age verification plugin that supports your smooth customer experience. Installation is free by our team and our API is available for custom development.
