Tag: hemp

Florida Senate Panel Takes Up Bill To Restrict Hemp Products

For the third year in a row, Florida lawmakers have begun debating a proposal to regulate THC-derived hemp products, which have evolved into a multibillion-dollar industry in the Sunshine State.

In addition to banning Delta-8 products and restricting the amount of Delta-9 THC levels in hemp products to 5 milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams per package, the latest proposal from Polk County Republican Sen. Colleen Burton (SB 438) includes for the first time regulations on hemp-infused drinks, which have surged in popularity over the past year.

The proposal would restrict the amount of THC per bottle or cans to no more than 5 milligrams. It would ban those drinks being sold at any locations other than ones already licensed to sell alcoholic beverages, adding additional prohibitions and requirements.

“Liquor stores and restaurants that would like to sell these products, they have come to us and asked us to provide some regulations so that they know that the products that they are selling have gone through the rigor of the testing and will all be held to the same standards,” Burton said in introducing the bill to the Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday afternoon.

But that provision received some pushback.

“Requiring us to carry a liquor license when we’re a non-alcoholic bottle shop kind of goes against what we built,” said Caitlyn Smith, co-owner of Herban Flow in St. Petersburg, which bills itself as Florida’s first non-alcoholic bottle shop.

Her husband and co-founder, Michael Smith, said that he is five years’ sober and the last thing that he wants is for his store to be regulated as a liquor store when it isn’t one.

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Missouri Lawmakers Reject Bill To Regulate Hemp Drinks And Edibles

A second proposal backed by Missouri’s hemp industry to regulate products like hemp-THC seltzers and edibles was defeated in a House committee Thursday morning, after the hemp-beverage distributor who helped draft the bill emailed committee members that morning asking them to kill it.

The 5-7 vote in the House General Laws committee came after state Rep. Dave Hinman of O’Fallon (R), the bill sponsor, spent hours last week trying to come up with a compromise among the splintered hemp industry leaders on regulations.

The same committee voted down a bill backed by the Missouri Hemp Trade Association last week in a 1-13 vote.

After that defeat, Hinman incorporated a number of the hemp association’s requests into an amended version of his bill, which he presented Thursday. State Rep. Ben Keathley (R) of Chesterfield, the chair of the committee, applauded Hinman’s attempt to bring the hemp leaders together.

“A lot of interests are working against each other in this bill, and it’s very difficult to come up with something that everyone’s going to be happy with,” Keathley said. “I think the bill sponsor put together a good package that allows us to do the most important thing of protecting Missouri children.”

Hinman’s amended bill addressed some of the concerns committee members had about costs of testing and increased the sales tax on these products to be the same as marijuana products, 6 percent. The bill also addressed concerns by hemp companies, he said, by allowing small-scale beverage manufacturers to self distribute and increased the maximum amount of THC per container.

But the fatal flaw that bill drafter Steven Busch, owner of Krey Distributing, could not support was allowing the continued sale of THC-A flower, which looks and acts very similar to marijuana buds.

Busch said he’s had discussions with Hinman previously about his concerns that THC-A is an unstable compound of the cannabis plant that becomes intoxicating when heated. And that process can happen when it sits on the shelf too long, he told committee members in emails and text messages Thursday morning.

Hinman told the committee he spoke with several industry experts who advised him the instability could be addressed by proper packaging requirements, which the bill included.

Earlier this week, Busch had told Hinman, whom he says he still highly respects, that he was pulling his support for the bill.

“It would really jeopardize the whole industry if they keep trying to push THC-A as hemp,” Busch told The Independent in an interview Thursday. “If somebody wants a product like that, they can very easily get it at a dispensary and that’s where it should be obtained.”

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Ohio Bill Seeks To Regulate Intoxicating Hemp And Limit Sales To Marijuana Dispensaries

A pair of Ohio Republican state senators want intoxicating hemp products to be sold only at adult-use dispensaries—not convenience stores, smoke shops or gas stations.

Ohio state Sens. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) and Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) introduced Senate Bill 86, which would also impose a 15 percent tax on intoxicating hemp products sold at dispensaries and ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products to anyone under 21.

“Currently, intoxicating hemp products are untested, unregulated psychoactive products that can be just as intoxicating, if not more intoxicating, than marijuana,” Wilkin said in his sponsor testimony to the Senate General Government Committee on Tuesday.

The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

Ohio is one of about 20 states that does not have any regulations around intoxicating hemp products, according to an Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center study from November 2024. Fifteen states ban these products. Seven states, including Michigan, regulate it like cannabis, while seven other states regulate it like consumer goods, according to the study.

“Given the lack of regulations, the intoxicating hemp industry has been able to confuse Ohio consumers and law enforcement by marketing themselves as ‘dispensaries’ with ‘recreational marijuana,’” Huffman said in his testimony.

Under the bill, intoxicating hemp products would only be sold at dispensaries if the products have been tested and comply with standards for packaging, labeling and advertising. The bill would only apply to products that can be ingested or inhaled.

“To suppress the illicit market, this bill prohibits hemp products that are not sold in dispensaries from marketing the products as marijuana, using any terms associated with the sale of the product that would cause a consumer to infer the product is marijuana or that the entity selling the product is a marijuana dispensary,” Huffman said in his testimony.

He had a bill in the last General Assembly that would have banned the sale of all intoxicating hemp products, but it wasn’t able to make it out of committee. Hemp business owners testified against the bill since it would end their livelihood, but they spoke in favor of regulations.

SB 86 would also regulate drinkable cannabinoid products.

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Kentucky Senate Passes Hemp Drinks Bill With Amendment Regulating, Instead Of Banning, Them

The Kentucky Senate advanced a bill Friday that would regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages but without banning their sales as first proposed.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, amended Senate Bill 202 after Republicans and Democrats alike expressed skepticism about the ban when the measure was approved by a committee earlier this week.

Adams’s floor amendment removed the temporary sales ban and would instead impose a cap of 5 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, on cannabis-derived drinks. The bill adds regulation of the intoxicating beverages to state laws that regulate alcoholic beverages, giving the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control the authority to oversee their distribution and sale.

Raque Adams said her floor amendment provided a “really solid starting point to put guardrails around this product so it doesn’t get in the hands of our children, guardrails for public health and guardrails for safety while maintaining the small business interests that we have seen across the commonwealth.”

“We are treating cannabis-infused beverages exactly like we’re treating alcohol,” Adams said.

As canned hemp-derived beverages containing THC have been gaining popularity across the country and popping up in convenience stores, state governments have increasingly sought to regulate them.

SB 202 passed the Senate by a vote of 29-6 with the minority of Democrats opposing the legislation, arguing that, while they agreed with regulating the beverages, the legislation was rushed and that senators and the public were not given enough time to understand the changes.

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Georgia Senate Passes Bills To Expand Medical Marijuana Access And Limit THC In Hemp Beverages

Three bills changing the way Georgia regulates hemp and medical cannabis have cleared the Senate ahead of Thursday’s Crossover Day deadline. The votes on the bills are some of the only ones this session that didn’t fall cleanly along party lines, with Senate Republicans divided over expanding medical access to cannabis and members of both parties split over new regulations on recreational hemp products.

Medical cannabis

Senate Bill 220, also known as the “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act,” passed in a contentious 39–17 vote after more than an hour of debate in the Senate. Like its counterpart in the other chamber, House Bill 227, the bill replaces the term “low-THC oil” with “medical cannabis” in Georgia code, removes requirements that certain medical diagnoses like cancer or Parkinson’s disease be “severe or end stage” and adds lupus to the list of qualifying health conditions.

Unlike the House version, SB 220 removes an existing prohibition against vaping cannabis oil and raises the percentage of THC that medical cannabis products may contain from 5 percent to 50 percent.

The bill was amended on the floor to include a provision allowing caregivers to pick up medical cannabis from pharmacies. Three other amendments aimed at reducing the amount of THC allowed in medical cannabis, removing the provision that allows for vaping, and removing PTSD and intractable pain from the list of approved diagnoses failed during a series of floor votes.

Hemp bills

Two bills aimed at strengthening hemp regulations in Georgia passed the Senate in decisive votes on Crossover Day, seeking to limit recreational use of marijuana as the chamber simultaneously eased restrictions for medical use.

Marietta Republican Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick’s SB 33 subjects chemical compounds like delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and other cannabinoids to testing and labeling regulations that were added last year under SB 494. It passed in a 50–6 vote.

In her speech from the well, Kirkpatrick said her bill is aimed at cutting down on unregulated hemp products from China and other countries.

“This bill is not a ban,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s a consumer protection bill that is not intended to impact processors that are already testing and labeling their products appropriately. It’s intended to make sure that consumers buying these products are clear on what they’re buying.”

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Kentucky Senate Panel Votes To Ban Sale Of Hemp-Derived Beverages On A Temporary Basis

Kentucky lawmakers advanced a “shell” bill Wednesday evening to ban the sale of hemp-derived beverages in the state until summer of 2026, a move supporters say will allow time to understand how intoxicating versions of the beverages are impacting consumers.

But those involved in the hemp industry decried the proposed moratorium on the sale of hemp-derived beverages as hampering, or even crippling, small businesses trying to market, distribute or sell the canned beverages that are gaining popularity across the country and popping up in places including convenience stores.

Senate Bill 202 sponsor Sen. Julie Raque Adams (R-Louisville) said the goal of her bill is to better understand and regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages similar to how the state regulates other intoxicating beverages such as beer or liquor.

She spoke to lawmakers alongside Rep. Matthew Koch (R- Paris) with a line of cans on a desk featuring various flavors and amounts of infused non-intoxicating cannabidiol, known as CBD, and other cannabinoids, which can include intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

“We are simply placing a moratorium on their sale until such time as we can establish robust regulations that protect Kentucky consumers and, most importantly, Kentucky children,” Adams said. “We have a real, I think, consumer protection issue going on right now. We need to make sure that Kentucky gets this right.”

Legislative concerns about regulating hemp-derived beverages sprang into public view on the 22nd day of this year’s 30-day session. The deadline for filing bills in the Senate was February 18.

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Committee In Tennessee Signs Off On Proposal To Tighten Restrictions On Hemp Industry

Despite warnings that the hemp industry would be decimated, the House Judiciary Committee passed a measure Wednesday that would put stricter regulations in place.

Sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R) of Portland, House Bill 1376 would place the industry under the Alcoholic Beverage Commission instead of the Department of Agriculture and remove products from convenience and grocery stores. Only vape and liquor stores would be allowed to sell some hemp products.

The House bill is set to be heard next in the Commerce Committee, where agreements with the industry could be reached.

“It does ban [derivatives] THCA and THCP. The reason for that is we have not legalized marijuana in this state,” Lamberth said.

Hemp is distinguished from marijuana in that it contains a compound called delta-9 THC. Cannabis with a concentration of less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC is defined as legal hemp in Tennessee—and federally. Cannabis with concentrations greater than 0.3 percent is classified as marijuana and is illegal to grow, sell or possess in Tennessee.

Hemp flowers also contain THCA, a nonintoxicating acid that would be banned in Tennessee under this bill. When heated or smoked, the THCA in the plant converts into delta-9 THC—an illegal substance in Tennessee in greater than trace amounts.

Clint Palmer, a representative of the hemp industry, told lawmakers the bill is similar to one passed in 2023 that led to a lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture that remains in litigation.

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Wisconsin Governor Puts Marijuana Legalization In Budget Request, Along With Provisions To Regulate Hemp-Derived THC

The governor of Wisconsin has once again included a proposal to legalize marijuana in his biennial budget request.

“Legalize, regulate, and tax the sale of marijuana for recreational use, much like Wisconsin already does with alcohol,” a budget brief that the office of Gov. Tony Evers (D) released on Tuesday says, adding that it will result in “$58.1 million in revenue in fiscal year 2026-27 and growing amounts in future years.”

Under current Wisconsin law, cannabis is illegal for both recreational and medical purposes.

The governor’s proposal would additionally “create a process for individuals serving sentences or previously convicted of marijuana-related crimes to have an opportunity to repeal or reduce their sentences for nonviolent minor offenses.”

“The Governor further recommends the imposition of a 15 percent wholesale excise tax and a 10 percent retail excise tax on the sale of marijuana for recreational use by department-issued permit holders,” it says.

Identical bills to facilitate the budget requests have been filed in both the Senate and Assembly.

In addition to legalizing cannabis for adult use, Evers is proposing to include delta-8, delta-10 THC and other intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids in the definition of marijuana to “ensure their production, processing and sale is regulated and not available to individuals under 21.”

Further, the governor is calling for the the Department of Revenue the enter into agreements with tribal territories “for the refund to tribes of marijuana excise taxes estimated to be collected from sales on tribal lands,” similar to current policy with tobacco products.

The companion bills that were filed in tandem with the governor’s budget request stipulate that all revenue collected from the proposed cannabis taxes will be deposited into the state general fund.

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Florida Bill Would Let Medical Marijuana Patients Grow At Home And Crack Down On Hemp-Derived Cannabinoids

A Florida lawmaker has introduced legislation that would allow medical marijuana patients in the state to grow up to two cannabis plants at home while also outlawing certain hemp-derived cannabinoids.

SB 334, sponsored by Sen. Joe Gruters (R)—who endorsed last year’s ultimately unsuccessful ballot measure that would have legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older—would require that homegrown cannabis be cultivated out of public view, “including a view from another private property,” and in an “enclosed, locked space to prevent access by unauthorized persons and persons younger than 21.”

The two-plant limit would apply to a household regardless of how many qualified patients live in the residence. Violations would be a first degree criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The proposal would expand the rights of medical marijuana patients in Florida while at the same time trying to rein in the state’s largely unregulated hemp-derived cannabinoid market. Specifically, it would ban from hemp products the cannabinoids delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, tetrahydrocannabinol acetate (THCA), tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP) and hexahydrocannabinol (HHC).

Delta-9 THC, meanwhile—the chief psychoactive component in marijuana—would be capped at 2 milligrams per serving and 20 mg per package. Further, the bill clarifies that a product’s delta-9 THC content would be determined through a combination of delta-9 itself and THCA, which converts into delta-9 THC when heated.

The new bill would also impose certain additional restrictions on the sale and advertising of hemp extracts, for example banning street retail stalls, sales at festivals and businesses within 500 feet of a school, day care facility or other hemp business. Public advertisements would also be generally prohibited.

Gruters, a former chair of the Florida Republican Party, was a proponent of the backed legalization measure Amendment 3 last November, appearing in an ad alongside Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) to argue that the reform would be “good for Florida” despite strong pushback from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

Gruters and Kim Rivers—the CEO of Trulieve, a medical marijuana company that provided the bulk of funding for Amendment 3—also met with Trump ahead of his endorsement of the constitutional amendment, as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access.

Notably, Amendment 3 would not have legalized home cultivation of marijuana—a detail seized on by some critics of the industry-backed proposal.

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Illinois Governor ‘Tremendously Disappointed’ By Failure Of Hemp Product Restriction Bill Amid Democratic Infighting

A bill that would have imposed regulations on new types of intoxicating substances derived from hemp stalled in the Illinois House Tuesday, dealing a political setback to Gov. JB Pritzker (D) after he strongly supported the legislation.

“I was tremendously disappointed,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference Tuesday, after it became clear the bill would not be called for a vote in the House. “This is a demonstration, from my perspective, of the power of special interests and the money that they spread around to thwart health and safety of the public.”

But the bill also created rifts within the House Democratic caucus. According to several sources, the hemp regulation bill was the focus of a three-hour, closed-door caucus meeting Monday that some House members described afterwards as “spirited” but others described as “raucous.”

Pritzker also called Democratic House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s decision not to call the bill “irresponsible,” saying he believed it would have passed with a bipartisan majority had he done so. And he criticized House Democrats for the treatment of members of his staff who appeared at Monday’s caucus meeting.

But Welch’s spokesperson noted that he is a cosponsor of the bill and would continue working to pass it in the new legislative session that begins Wednesday.

“A lengthy caucus discussion found that the bill in its current form did not have enough support within the House Democratic Caucus,” the spokesperson said. “He is committed to continuing discussions so that when the bill ultimately passes, it is the best possible piece of legislation for the state of Illinois.”

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