INDUSTRY UPDATES
March 12, 2023
The War On Hemp – We Need Your Help!
There’s a war on hemp being waged in state capitols across the nation by some big names in the marijuana industry. Enlist in the Hemp Supporter army to defeat these forces!
It’s no secret that the U.S. marijuana industry has been struggling. Stories of stock collapses, significant layoffs, and stagnant sales have proliferated in the cannabis trades. Many marijuana-focused companies and organizations have been fighting the good fight – often arm and arm with the hemp industry – to lift all boats with measures such as SAFE Banking and efforts such as prodding the FDA to regulate cannabis. But a growing, and often discrete, minority of monopolistic marijuana interests have been plotting to line their own pockets by trying to destroy the hemp retail marketplace.
The public justification for these efforts is to protect consumer health and safety by cracking down on unsafe, intoxicating hemp-derived products. Yet, rather than following the lead of Kentucky and passing legislation to strictly regulate intoxicating cannabinoids and keep them out of the hands of children, these so-called cannabis-reform advocates want to return to the days of prohibition and criminalization. Worse yet, many of these bills go much, much further, and would virtually eliminate the non-intoxicating hemp retail product market – defining “hemp” at THC levels far below reasonable intoxicating limits.
This is not about public health and safety. It’s simply about greed.
Some examples of the effort to snuff out hemp:
- In Maryland, SB 516 and HB 556 include provisions that would limit retail hemp products to no more than 0.5 mg THC/serving, 2.5 mg/package, restrict products to persons 21 or older, and likely ban delta-8. Supporters, including trade groups and lobbyists for the medical cannabis industry, have misleadingly advised legislators that this would not restrict the sale of CBD products, but failed to be fully transparent in that most CBD products, including full spectrum hemp extract, would actually fall under these restrictions and be cordoned off to the adult-use market.
- In Florida, marijuana industry giant Trulieve is reportedly leading an effort, financed by other multi-state operators (MSOs), to pass SB 1676 and HB 1475, which would limit total THC in hemp products to 0.5 mg/serving and 2 mg/package, restrict them to adults, and would likely ban delta-8 AND most full spectrum hemp CBD products.
- In Virginia, SB 903 and HB 2294 have been passed by the legislature and sent to the Governor and would limit retail hemp products to 2 mg of THC per package, bizarrely require “bittering agents” to topical products (without any evidence that people are eating lotions), and restrict products with any amount of THC to adults only. Fortunately, the Governor is considering amending this legislation to eliminate these restrictions. This legislation has been pushed by Virginia NORML and major corporate marijuana interests.
- In Washington State, the Washington CannaBusiness Association has been pushing SB 5367 and HB 1612, which would impose limits for retail hemp products of 1.5 mg THC per package and 3 mg THC per package, respectively. Also, per serving limits of 0.5 mg and 1 mg, respectively.
- In Louisiana, cannabis interests have encouraged implementation of an Emergency rule which would limit THC in packages to 8 mg.
- And Arkansas’s SB 358, North Dakota’s SB 2096, and Texas’s SB 264 and HB 4238 would criminalize delta-8 and other intoxicating cannabinoids.
Millions of dollars are being poured into these efforts by these monopolistic marijuana interests. The hemp industry cannot compete with these big dollars. That’s why we need you!
