Attorney generals from various states across the country as well as Washington, D.C., are urging leaders in Congress to act on hemp-derived intoxicants. In a letter penned to legislators in the Senate and House agriculture committees, these top state law-enforcement officials asked that legislators revise hemp’s definition in the 2018 Farm Bill and allow states to implement their own initiatives to regulate the crop and its products.
The bill defines hemp as cannabis with a delta-9 THC concentration not exceeding 0.3% on a dry weight basis but exempts other derivatives and extracts. This loophole has allowed intoxicants from hemp to be sold across the nation while preventing localities and states from being able to respond to the resulting safety and health crisis due to the law’s vagueness.
It should be noted that the farm bill still maintains prohibitions on cannabis use and products as stipulated under the Controlled Substances Act due to the drug’s Schedule I classification.
The letter, penned by attorney generals Tim Griffen of Arkansas and Todd Rokita of Indiana, was also signed by AGs from Colorado, California, Georgia, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota, North Carolina, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia, Tennessee, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
The group explained that the gray area had allowed intoxicants, which were produced with no regulatory oversight, packaged as non-cannabis products and sold in unlicensed establishments such as convenience stores and gas stations, to proliferate markets.
In legal-states, these products usually undergo tests for potency and any adulterants. Additionally, the laws generally prevent these products from being advertised or designed to appeal to underage individuals.
In nonlegal states, however, this testing is difficult to conduct because of the absence of clear regulations. By revising this language, states will now be able to regulate these products effectively. Thus far, only states such as South Dakota, Florida, Massachusetts and Minnesota have taken steps to regulate hemp-derived intoxicants.
This action comes after the Congressional Research Service released a report in November 2023 highlighting that different priorities in policymaking among industry stakeholders could make it harder to amend the federal farm bill. The report called attention to the fact that the central focus among interest groups spanned the use of hemp as a food ingredient, as a dietary supplement ingredient and as an industrial input.
In addition, it mentioned several hemp measures that federal legislators could consider including in the broader agricultural initiative. One bipartisan legislation would decrease regulations on cultivators of industrial hemp for other purposes apart from extraction. Another bipartisan measure filed last year would eliminate a discriminatory policy that prevented individuals with previous felony drug convictions from leading or owning a legal hemp business.
The clarification of federal regulations governing hemp extracts such as delta-8 THC would help the industry and companies such as Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) make better decisions regarding whether or not to venture into those products and under what conditions.
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