Inside STAT: Two new class-action lawsuits threaten the CBD industry 

A PERSON PREPARES CANNABIS PLANTS. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

The FDA may not yet have determined whether products containing cannabidiol — the marijuana-adjacent oil — can be legally marketed, but that’s not stopping some consumers from taking matters into their own hands. In a pair of lawsuits recently filed against two of the biggest CBD manufacturers in the country — Charlotte’s Web and CV Sciences — plaintiffs who bought these companies’ products are alleging that they were marketed using “false, fraudulent, unfair, deceptive, and misleading” claims that made these products appear as regular dietary supplements. Other lawsuits against smaller companies are also laying out a similar argument. Their ask: that judges force all these companies to return the massive profits they’ve made from those sales. But doing so could hurt the nascent industry just as it’s taking off. STAT’s Nicholas Florko has more.