California is seeking to crack down on marijuana products that contain THC and can be toxic, drawing anger from an industry that has long operated with little oversight.
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposed emergency regulations that would require all such consumer products to be free of detectable THC in order to protect children from dangerous influences. The regulations would be among the toughest restrictions on the cannabis industry in any state, and would limit the age of purchase to 21.
“The industry bears full responsibility for its failure to police the proliferation of these addictive products that harm our children,” Newsom said.Press ConferenceIt was noted that these items were sold at the grocery store adjacent to the school.
In contrast to California's heavily regulated marijuana industry, the state's hemp industry, like most other U.S. states, operates largely unregulated.
This unintentional, indiscriminate attackRegulationsThe 2018 Farm Bill is a multi-year legislative package that governs a wide range of agricultural programs. The bill:Statutory definitionHemp was considered unique and distinct from marijuana, which excluded it from the Drug Enforcement Administration's oversight under the Controlled Substances Act.
The legalization of hemp has opened up a wealth of mysterious products that are not overseen by the federal government and may or may not be regulated by individual states.
“It's crazy that there's so many new cannabinoids being produced that are unregulated, both old and new,” Peter Grinspoon, an attending physician and cannabis expert at Massachusetts General Hospital, told The Hill.
In contrast, marijuana products entering cannabis dispensaries are tracked from seed to sale and tested for “fungi, heavy metals, lead, industrial by-products and pesticides,” he explained.
Hemp and marijuana come from the same Cannabis sativa species but differ in their content of the psychoactive ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Hemp contains less than 0.3 percent THC, while marijuana's THC potency is typically around 15-20 percent, meaning hemp does not have the effect of getting you “high.” On the other hand, both hemp and marijuana contain the non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD), known for its relaxing and medicinal properties.
But in states with no marijuana regulations, like California, products containing unidentified ingredients ranging from THC to pesticides are ending up on supermarket shelves and in children's hands.
Grinspoon emphasized that the 2018 Farm Bill “legalized all of these cannabinoids without any kind of regulatory regime,” meaning people could access synthetic hemp alternatives without knowing what was in them.
There's been a strong push to make addictive forms of hemp illegal in the next version of the Farm Bill (originally expected to take effect this year), but the broader legislative package continues to face delays.
Other states have already taken their own steps to regulate the hemp industry: Hemp cultivation in Kentucky requires a license, and all products containing cannabinoids must comply with facility permit and product labeling requirements.
Colorado has updated its hemp laws. Product Safety Regulations November – Clarifies manufacturing, testing, registration and labeling requirements, and provides clear rules for non-addictive “hemp products” and addictive “safe harbor hemp products.”
Kentucky and Colorado limit the sale of intoxicating cannabis products to individuals 21 years of age or older.
In California,invoiceA bill to restrict certain industrial hemp products gained support from the state Assembly in May but failed to pass the state Senate this summer.
The law is Building on AB 45A bill passed in October 2021 requires hemp products to be registered and tested by independent laboratories to ensure THC levels remain below 0.3%.
According to AB 45, consumable hemp products must include a barcode linking to a certificate of inspection, an expiration date, warnings for vulnerable populations, and a disclaimer indicating the lack of federal safety review. The 2021 law also allows the California Department of Public Health to adopt regulations it deems necessary to implement the bill's objectives in compliance with future federal legislation.
This summer The failed bill, AB-2223The bill, drafted by state Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar Curry (D), would have sought to limit THC content not only to 0.3 percent by weight, but also to 0.25 milligrams per serving, with a maximum of five servings per package.
Ahead of the state Senate vote, Aguiar Curry Office stress The need to “close loopholes in federal law and measure THC content by weight rather than by intoxicating effect” as well as ban the sale of certain synthetic cannabinoids.
The bill would also allow licensed cannabis dispensaries to sell hemp products and integrate them into the existing (and highly regulated) cannabis supply chain.
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, an advocacy group representing dozens of cannabis and CBD companies and organizations, celebrated the bill's failure to pass the state senate.
Governor Newsom offered a temporary solution in his proposal last week, calling it an “interim” solution to hold bad actors accountable until lawmakers can craft new legislation.
“I believe hemp, even hemp that contains intoxicating substances, can be sold, but it must be sold in a regulated environment, not in grocery stores or corner stores across California,” Newsom said.
Representatives of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable slammed the governor's proposal,Press StatementNewsom, he said, could “get things done that Congress couldn't” and was “already planning a big fight.”
The group's general counsel, Jonathan Miller, accused the governor of initiating a blanket ban rather than “addressing the legitimate regulatory concerns shared by all good stakeholders” and acting on the October 2021 bill.
“There's a way to accomplish what he's most angry about without destroying the industry,” Miller told The Hill. “We need to start enforcing AB45 and making sure that every product that goes on the market is made with good manufacturing practices and is tested.”
That's why Miller sent a letter to the governor on Thursday expressing his agreement that marijuana products “must be strictly regulated and kept out of the hands of minors.”
“But your proposed regulations are the wrong approach,” he wrote, “and frankly, we believe you are misinformed.”
Elaborating on this theory, Miller told The Hill that he believes Governor Newsom is “hearing from people in the marijuana industry that they're in trouble, and they're blaming hemp for their problems.”
“Prohibition never works,” Miller warned in the letter, adding that a retail ban on all hemp products that contain THC is unreasonable.
“Almost all hemp products contain detectable THC, including the majority of non-intoxicating products,” Miller wrote.
Miller called on Newsom to withdraw the proposal, adding that the industry would prefer to work with the governor rather than sue him. The Hill has reached out to the governor's office for comment on the request.
Miller cited examples from other states. Kentucky's efforts praised When it comes to marijuana, he noted there was a bipartisan effort to craft these rules.
Miller said California should implement random product testing and impose meaningful age restrictions on purchases, similar to the rules that apply to alcohol sales.
“Instead of strictly regulating these products, he has banned almost everything,” Miller said of Newsom.
Meanwhile, representatives of the legal cannabis industry expressed support for the governor's emergency regulations.
Vince Nin, co-founder and CEO of cannabis distribution platform Navis, said in a statement that he sees the proposed ban as “a major and necessary push towards achieving safe and reliable access to plant-based medicines.”
“It is essential that access to any cannabis product, hemp-derived or otherwise, always goes hand in hand with clear protections for consumers,” he added.
By pursuing this dual approach and closing regulatory gaps, stakeholders in both the legal cannabis and hemp-derived industries can benefit from greater stability, Ning said.
Similarly, Dustin Moore, co-founder of cannabis shop Embarq, warned that an “untested, unregulated market for intoxicating cannabis” was expanding outside the established framework of California's legal cannabis business.
“If the existing framework is not sustainable, then we must work together to fix it and not allow a shadow industry to thrive outside of it,” Moore added.
Grinspoon, a cannabis expert at Massachusetts General Hospital, took a middle ground, emphasizing the need for regulation but criticizing some of Newsom's tactics.
“This is a very heavy-handed and in some ways the wrong response to a very real and urgent problem,” he said.
Grinspoon, author of the related book “Seeing Through the Smoke,” said many of the new cannabinoids could have therapeutic benefits but need further research and regulation.
“I'm not a fan of totally unregulated, addictive products tainted with industrial by-products that are available to anyone,” the doctor added.
But Grinspon expressed concern that completely banning opioid products containing THC could have disastrous consequences because the products could cross state lines and simply prove to be ineffective, and he reflected on the “catastrophe” that appears to have been caused by War on Drugs-related prohibition.
“And what it does is it drives people, it drives an entire industry, a multi-billion dollar industry, underground and just makes it more dangerous,” Grinspoon said.
