During a House Oversight Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) spoke about regulation of cannabis products to avoid child exposure.
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00:00The gentleman yields. I now recognize Mr. Burchett from Tennessee for five
00:04minutes. Thank you chair lady. This is a question, these are some questions that
00:11I'm, what I'm trying to do is separate hemp from marijuana, all right? There
00:17seems to be a lot of confusion in that realm, especially when I walk into one
00:22of our hemp stores in East Tennessee when they see me walk in there. Mr. Miller,
00:28now do you support hemp products that contain intoxicating cannabinoids? We
00:36support any product that has less than 0.3% Delta 9 THC, which is the
00:44measurement. Some of those products that do indeed cause impairment, but at the
00:49same time we feel very strongly that they need to be strictly regulated and most
00:53importantly kept out of the hands of children. Okay, because doctors at East
00:57Tennessee Children's Hospital, where I spent a lot of quality time in my
01:01formative years during my Evel Knievel phase, as I called it, and this is a
01:06hospital in my district, East Tennessee Children's Hospital, they've reported that
01:1056 newborns and over 30 kids have been exposed, or as they say poisoned, by THC
01:17products. Does that ring, does that sound right to you?
01:22I don't know the numbers, but there certainly is is a real problem given the
01:27lack of regulation and you know really the point of my testimony is that we
01:32need to get the FDA engaged, particularly to get these products out of the hands of
01:36children. I guess I'm just worried because kids are ending up at the
01:39hospital and there just seems to be the public needs to be educated on this issue
01:44and I'm not seeing a lot of that. It just seems the rules and regulations are kind of
01:49all over the place. Yeah, no, I know Tennessee has been making a strong effort
01:53to try to regulate these products. My home state of Kentucky has as well. Again, we
01:59have, we feel very strongly that adult products are, when taken responsibly by
02:07adults, are a good health and wellness alternative, but we have got to keep these
02:12out of the hands of kids and we need help. We do our self-regulation as an industry, our
02:17U.S. Hemp Authority helps crack down internally, but only if we get the federal
02:23government working with the states will we ensure that this problem goes away.
02:27I've talked to several people, some in this room actually, that support the
02:33legalization of marijuana but do not support it in the hands of children. And I'm
02:38wondering, how are we expected to trust y'all if, if you condone the sale of these
02:48things like Delta 8? Well, we, we condone, we do not condone the sale of products like
02:55that to kids. That's a 100 percent. Delta 8 is a product that many adults use and swear by for their own health and wellness.
03:07And as long as the products are regulated and made sure there's no contaminants, make
03:12sure they're labeled properly, and again make sure they're kept out of the hands of
03:15children, they can be a healthy alternative for, for adults. But, but you're
03:19absolutely right. It is a real problem. These products are dangerous for kids and
03:24we're trying to do as much as we can as an industry, but we really need government
03:28regulation to crack down on it. Is it true that compounded drugs are manufactured
03:32domestically under the oversight of the FDA or state boards? Anybody care to answer
03:39that? Jump in there. Well, thank you for the question, Congressman. They are, but the
03:48FDA applies a different safety label to them than they do the branded or generic
03:55drugs. They're marked as FDA unapproved drugs, and they are not guaranteed for safety or efficacy.
04:03So while they provide an important niche part of our drug supply to make it resilient, they're
04:09only used as a last resort.
04:10Dr. One of the key questions is those compounding pharmacies may be mixing the final ingredients,
04:20but where are they getting their ingredients from? And some of those ingredients, that API...
04:28I know what API stands for, none of the rest of the committee does, so you'll explain it to them already.
04:33It's the active pharmaceutical ingredient. That first chart that I showed, 80% of our API is coming from either China or India approximately. So that's my concern about the compounding. Where is the raw material coming from?
04:50No problem. Okay. Well, that was, I guess, the follow-up to that was we've got some compounding pharmacies in our areas. We do every other area.
05:03And I worry that the vast majority of them are doing the right thing, but I'm afraid some of them could be doing some folks some ill will. So thank you all. I've run out of time. Thank you, Chair Lady, for your indulgence. Thank you, ma'am.
05:16Thank you, sir.