FDA Orders Former NFL Pro Kyle Turley To Stop Claims That CBD Can Cure Coronavirus

Former NFL tackle Kyle Turley has walked back statements that his brand of CBD can cure coronavirus after regulators blasted him in a letter.

However, Turley added the qualifier "cheap" in a Thursday tweet referencing the fast-spreading disease that exceeds 1 million cases worldwide:

OK OK, YOURE ALL RIGHT, ILL ADMIT IT! CHEAP CBD BRAND PRODUCTS WILL NOT PREVENT OR CURE COVID19! @MarijuanaMoment

— KT (@KyleTurley) April 2, 2020

The comments came after the FDA and FTC sent the former New Orleans Saint a warning letter requiring that his business, Neuro XPF, stop making the claims and remove them from any marketing material.

Failure to comply will result in “legal action, including, without limitation, seizure and injunction,” the letter said. 

Turley had said his cannabidiol products are "intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19 in people,” according to the FDA. 

Since the products are not authorized for such use, the statement was in violation of both FDA and FTC regulations.

Turley advertised his products with claims such as “Crush Corona! Your best defense against the COVID-19 blitz starts with a strong immune system."

Turley is also the founder of the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition.

“This was a clear targeted attack on an American citizen for exercising free speech, this had nothing to do with my CBD company and the FDA is clearly not just doing their job,” he said.

“I will continue to flush this corrupt system and those complicit in my efforts to free this plant. When Schedule 1 is dropped from cannabis the FDA will swiftly acknowledge the multitude of cures within God’s healing plant, from the multitude of studies these cowards wish to oppress.”

The government letter goes on to assert that it is illegal “to advertise that a product can prevent, treat, or cure human disease unless you possess competent and reliable scientific evidence, including, when appropriate, well-controlled human clinical studies, substantiating that the claims are true at the time they are made.”