Dan Perkins: Caveat Emptor, CBD

By Dan Perkins:

According to Richard Cleland, who is the Assistant Director of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), "The need for consumer protection exploded with the boom of CBD products that burst on the market. Claims against CBD products, therefore, range from disease treatment claims by manufacturers to quality of ingredients and actual CBD quantities."

I had Mr. Cleland on my radio show, America’s Cannabis Conversation, and during that interview, he was focused on the curative claims by product sellers. Some of these claims are being able to cure dementia, cancer, and many more illnesses. The FTC has been joined by the FDA in investigating those companies who are making false and misleading claims. 

Many millions of Americans are looking for the magic bullet to cure their pain, and the elderly are being preyed upon most by these charlatans. If you have had chronic pain most of your life and you still have the pain, you will try almost anything. The explosion of CBD sales in the last year has been incredible. According to Statista, CBD sales increased from $512 million in 2018 to an expectation they will reach close to $850 million in 2019, up almost 60%. Industry experts suggest that CBD sales in the USA will be $20 billion by 2025.

I want to address what is happening in the industry that up until now, no one is writing or talking about: misleading selling practices. If you are like me, you have been deluged by offers for CBD. Sometimes it is positioned as a special offer, and at other times it is a free offer. This is where the headline of this commentary comes into play. 

You see a special limited-time offer, or they only have a few bottles left; they are trying to create a sense of urgency in you to make you rush to buy. You see pages and pages of testimonials of all the things CBD can cure or treat. You see pictures of older people looking as if they are pain-free or have gotten the best sleep of their lives. You scroll through all the pages, and you get excited because you want to feel better when you see other people looking better from XYZ CBD oil. 

The offer says it's free, so you decide to click the “order here” button and then can't wait for the UPS driver to drop it off. Here is the real question: how much did you pay for the free offer? You think nothing, because it was free. You need to find out how much you will pay for the next bottle. While it may be true that the first bottle is free, the second and additional bottles are not free. 

You know very little about CBD. Most of what you see on the web is the limit of your knowledge. Do you really know how much a 1 oz bottle of CBD oil with 300 MG of hemp oil should cost? You are going to have to take a deep dive to find out what the price is for the next bottle. You will have to search the entire web site in order to find the terms of the order. The following is a direct lift of the terms to a recent ad I received for a CBD bottle. Read the offer carefully:

“By placing your order today, you'll be shipped a 30-day supply of “blank” for only $6.96. This gives you the opportunity to try this remarkable product so you can come to a decision for yourself if this is the right product for you. If you are dissatisfied with the product, you must call (877) 227-XXXX within the 14 day’s trial plus 3 days (total of 17 days) from today to cancel your membership and avoid being charged $95.13, which is the full price of the product.” 

The price is $95.13? If you don't cancel the order, then each month, they will send you a new bottle and charge you $95.13. I think the FTC must stop these deceptive practices and demand that consumers get transparent pricing. 

Perkins Twist, If you have been taken advantage of with this pricing scam, then write to the FTC at https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint-ftc and give them your pricing story and, perhaps, we can bring about honest pricing. In the meantime, shop around for pricing. Things to look for include how many ounces of CBD is in the bottle. Also, how much liquid is in the bottle? If you want a 1 oz bottle of CBD with 250 MG of CBD, then look for that product. On the last point, look to the number of doses to a bottle. If one dose is one drop, and the bottle has 100 doses, then each drop is 2.5 MG per dose. You may have to take more than one dose to get enough CBD to make a difference. 

Until the pricing is transparent, Caveat Emptor: let the buyer beware!