Fix, Marry or Kill? Hemp needs your help in HI, MA, MN, and MO

As in the past few weeks, we continue to draw your attention to state legislation that impacts the hemp and CBD industry. Today, we play the game “Fix, Marry or Kill?” Some of the bills below deserve your full support and allegiance. Others are OK but need some improvements. And still others are bad news and deserve your opposition.

Some of the bills summarized below would impose age limitations on hemp products, a misguided effort that would confuse hemp and CBD with intoxicating products that should be kept out of the reach of children. Some of them treat hemp like marijuana, prohibiting advertising or treating products as if they were controlled substances. Many of the bills create problematic labeling requirements for hemp and CBD products—some inconsistent with FDA policy and others worsening the national patchwork that could force 50 different labels for 50 different states.

For the bills needing to be fixed, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable has sent letters to bill sponsors, urging them to amend the bills to make them hemp farmer- and business-friendly. We ask you to use our State Action Center to encourage your individual state legislators to support the Roundtable’s changes.

Here’s a summary:

Hawaii: Marry SB 252, Fix SB 317, Kill HB 1243. SB 252 is a good bill that would legalize the sale of hemp food products. We offer a few technical amendments here. SB 317 is well-intentioned, but it would impose burdensome manufacturing and labeling requirements and prohibit selling hemp products to persons under 21, which we strongly oppose. 

Here are the Roundtable’s proposed amendments. HB 1243, on the other hand, is a misguided effort that would prohibit the sale of hemp food products, limit the forms of other consumable hemp products, and revert the definition of hemp to the 2014 Farm Bill’s definition. It deserves a painless death.

Massachusetts: Marry HD 2579. The Roundtable offers unqualified support for HD 2579, which it worked on closely with bill sponsor, and hemp hero, Rep. Mark Cusack. The bill would explicitly provide a legal pathway for the sale of hemp-derived CBD as a dietary supplement and food and beverage additive.

Minnesota: Fix HF 600 and SF 757. These well-intentioned bills would create excessive labeling and packaging requirements and would also inappropriately prohibit certain advertisements of consumable and topical hemp products. Here are the Roundtable’s proposed amendments.

Missouri: Fix HB 669. While intended to strengthen the hemp and CBD industries, this bill would create burdensome labeling requirements for ingestible CBD products. Many of the requirements seem to be taken from unrelated marijuana labeling rules and would be unique to Missouri. The bill would also prohibit selling CBD oil products to persons under 21, which we strongly oppose. Here are the Roundtable’s proposed amendments.

If you live or do business in any of these states, please access our State Action Center today to help us with this pending legislation. If not, please share this with your friends, colleagues, and social media contacts in the affected states.