CBD Intel
Tim Phillips, Managing Director at CBD Intel and Ecigintelligence
discussed the changes to the Novel Food Regulations at a
European level.
Vapouround enquired to the UK’s Food Standard’s Authority and
was told this will not affect CBD e-liquids, however it may affect
other CBD products currently being sold in vape shops.
Tim explained: “What has happened is the European Food
Standards Agency has changed the definition of CBD. It wasn’t
done with a lot of notice, I don’t think many saw it coming. What’s
not clear is whether the government will take that and put it
into our legislation. I think it is quite likely that they will, on past
performance, a lot of governments follow on the European Food
Standards Agency guidance. This is an agency based in Italy
with scientists who look at food and obviously, it is very important
governments take their advice on board. What does it mean? I
think it may well mean we see different types of factors come
through. France was very heavily into vape CBD, we might see
some of the other markets change slightly. I suspect it will change
the market. Unfortunately, for the industry I think it will mean a
whole load of uncertainty. For products which are already on the
market, the truth is we don’t know if they will be left on the market
or not. We know there are plenty of shops coming under pressure
from Trading Standards, lots of products taken off the shelves in
France and Spain and various other countries around Europe. This
is going to be a highly uncertain next few years for the industry.”
Creating a more conscious future
Brandi Leifso, the founder and CEO of Evio Beauty is a poster
girl for the potential in the CBD industry. Brandi started her brand
whilst staying at a women’s shelter. At the time, she had $15 and
a laptop to her name.
Speaking on day one of the conference to a packed room, Brandi
said the scope for hemp and CBD in the beauty industry in
particular is massive, as she relayed her personal story, and its
parallels with the industry.
“When I was 14, I dropped out of school. I had a very colourful
upbringing, so I did not have a traditional education at all. I made it
onto the junior Olympic team, I was a competitive ice dancer. That
was why I dropped out of school, because I thought I was going to
be Belle from Beauty and the Beast on Disney on Ice. My career
has taken a big change. That led me to experiencing the stigma of
growing up in a colourful home. I found myself living at a shelter
when I was 21 years old. While I was there, I had a laptop and $15
and so I went on Google to look at make-up. I found a ton of white
labelled products that had very traditional packaging. I put them in
photoshop and put my own logo on them.
“I was able to make enough pre-sales to not only get my own
apartment, to get back on my own two feet, but to actually
bootstrap a company. I was able to bring it from a place of literally
nothing with products that didn’t exist to create products and pre-
sell 277,000 pieces in 2017. That led us to a space in which the
world’s largest skincare manufacturer invested in Evio, and from
there we continually grew the company. We were partially acquired
by Aurora and became their beauty arm.
“There is a lot of strategy to that. Although I don’t have your
traditional education, something we are all familiar with is breaking
stigmas. That’s something I am super passionate about. If we can
break more stigmas, we can create a more conscious future.”
Want to know more about this event? Check out our extensive
coverage in issue two of Vapouround CBD Magazine.
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