Last week, Missouri Senate and House committees passed measures that’d permit low-dose intoxicating hemp beverages to continue being sold in liquor and grocery stores. The House measure was sponsored by GOP State Rep. Chad Perkins while the Senate measure was sponsored by GOP State Rep. Nick Schroer. Both measures also ban intoxicating hemp vapes and edibles from being sold anywhere except cannabis dispensaries.
Committee members argued that this clause made them tough measures to vote on as they were torn between regulating these products to keep children safe and the impact these changes would have on businesses in the state that sold these products.
Apart from banning these products, both measures make it mandatory for every retailer to acquire a license to sell hemp beverages. The difference has to do with who is responsible for the regulation and issuance of the said licenses. Under the House measure, the state’s Health and Senior Services department would be in charge of this. The state’s marijuana regulating agency is housed under this department.
On the other hand, the Senate measure puts the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control in charge of this. The division already regulates liquor manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.
Schroer explained that his measure wasn’t final and they were currently focused on ensuring minors had no access to these products. His original legislation would’ve treated delta-8 THC beverages, vapes and edibles derived from hemp like cannabis. However, an amendment proposed by the state’s Cannabis Trade Association introduced an exception for drinks like seltzers which came in cans.
The amendment also excluded beverages made with synthetic THC and restricted the allowable THC amount to 5mg per can. In addition to this, edibles and beverages would have their THC per serving capped at 100mg.
Currently, THC products can be sold in stores across the state because the intoxicating cannabinoid is extracted from hemp, not cannabis. This is because the commercial cultivation and production of hemp is legal at the federal level, following the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill.
Other measures presented to the committee include the beer wholesaler’s bill, which proposes rules for hemp drinks. The measure, sponsored by GOP State Rep. Barry Hovis, would set up a 3-tier distribution system similar to that of the alcohol industry. This proposal has strongly been opposed by the Missouri Hemp Trade Association, which argues that this distribution system would establish a monopoly that greatly favored distributors.
Hemp industry operators like Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) with a national outlook hope that any effort to regulate hemp products doesn’t stifle innovation in the sector.
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