Should your pet take CBD? California veterinarians could recommend marijuana under proposed law
California veterinarians would be able to recommend cannabis for people’s pets under a bill being considered by state lawmakers.
Assembly Bill 384 follows up on a 2018 law which empowered vets to discuss cannabis with pet owners without facing sanction.
Those products are commonly available now, including CBD-infused oils, capsules and treats. California veterinarians can talk about them, but they cannot make recommendations.
“Right now we don’t have regulations in place to allow for pet owners to purchase cannabis products for their pets’ relief,” said bill author Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose.
Kalra’s bill passed out of the Assembly Business and Professions Committee with unanimous, bipartisan support. The bill is supported by cannabis advocates, including the California Cannabis Industry Association and California NORML, and by the California Veterinary Medical Association.
More pet owners are purchasing cannabis products for their pets and bringing them to the veterinary hospitals, according to the California Veterinary Medical Association, but vets are unable to discuss the potential impact of the product on the animal, or suggest a safe dosage level.
“Without the guidance of a veterinary medical professional, the animal-owning client is left to make his or her own ‘guesstimate’ regarding dosing; or more troubling, they might seek dosing information from a cannabis dispensary clerk,” said Dan Baxter, executive director of the California Veterinary Medical Association, in a letter of support for the bill.
Kalra’s bill would require the state Veterinary Medical Board to establish guidelines for veterinarians to recommend the use of cannabis on an animal patient. It also would amend the 2016 California law legalizing cannabis for adult-use to include products intended for animals, which were not included in the existing law.
Two groups have registered their opposition to Kalra’s bill.
Lovingly and Legally, a San Francisco-based marijuana grower, argues that it “opens the doors to greedy manufacturers and unscrupulous operators to a heretofore untapped segment of the industry. Pet parents are at the mercy of whatever advertisement screams the loudest; rather than the well thought out robust health and safety precautions.”
The Veterinary Cannabis Society cautions that the language of AB 384 ”opens the floodgates for all manner of products for animals containing cannabis to be sold in recreational dispensaries including treats, food, and anything else a producer might want to put a picture of a dog on.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 5:25 AM with the headline "Should your pet take CBD? California veterinarians could recommend marijuana under proposed law."