CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s fifth documentary on the cannabis industry, WEED 5: The CBD Craze, will premiere this Sunday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CNN.
The hour-long film will focus exclusively on CBD and the emerging industry. Gupta published an op-ed ahead of the film’s release. He argues that lack of regulation in the marketplace can be harmful to consumers.
“Without the respect of being treated like the medicine it is, or reasonable regulation when it is purchased as a supplement, CBD has been hijacked by unscrupulous actors peddling crooked, corrupt and contaminated products,” Gupta writes. “They’re making a quick buck and disappearing into the ether without a trace.”
He cited a JAMA study that shows 69 percent of a group of 84 CBD products purchased online were inaccurately labeled.
“The legitimate vendors of CBD, who took the time to ensure consistency, safety and quality, are now sadly lumped together with the dishonest and dodgy ones, leaving the consumer confused about where to turn,” Gupta adds.
According to a CNN spokesman, WEED 5 will follow Gupta as he travels around the country to learn about the CBD industry. The film includes footage from New York City, Utah, Colorado, Virginia and South Carolina, the spokesman says.
Gupta also provides updates on families he met during his previous WEED documentary projects, including a 12-year-old girl named Charlotte Figi, who uses a CBD-rich extract known as Charlotte’s Web to treat her seizures.
“Make no mistake: Cannabis is a medicine,” Gupta writes. “Over the last six years, through countless articles and essays, and now five documentary films, my team and I have made that case and we have provided the proof. At times, it can heal when nothing else can. Denying people this substance represents a moral issue just as much as a medical one.”