“I’m not a huge regulation guy, but I think it’s an area where we need more regulation.”
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
The mixed Florida House workgroup fashioned to check the hemp trade concluded its remaining assembly Thursday with two primary conclusions:
- They agreed they didn’t wish to make any strikes that may kill what has emerged as a multi-billion-dollar trade within the Sunshine State.
- But additionally they decided that Florida has to vary the established order in regard to how the product is regulated.
The 24-member group, chaired by Escambia County Republican Michelle Salzman, was charged by House Speaker Danny Perez to “gain knowledge and understanding of the subject matter” and to not make legislative suggestions.
The panel heard testimony, a few of it jarring, from trade specialists, regulators and entrepreneurs.
Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, whose division oversees the hemp trade, kicked off the meetings this week when he mentioned that whereas the hemp market is sophisticated, the info surrounding it aren’t.
“From my experience, the debate and advocacy often does not rely on the facts,” he mentioned.
Federal legislation defines the hemp plant as having lower than 0.3 p.c THC, the first psychoactive ingredient in hashish.
Hemp can produce cannabinoids which have intoxicating results just like THC in hashish. But whereas medical marijuana is strictly regulated in Florida because it grew to become legalized years in the past, hemp isn’t, resulting in repeated claims heard this week that the panorama for the product was primarily “the wild, wild west.”
“I’m not a huge regulation guy, but I think it’s an area where we need more regulation,” mentioned Southeast Republican Rep. Toby Oberdorf. “You can have a bag of gummies from hemp that’s actually stronger than a bag of gummies from THC, which we legalized here in the state of Florida with a prescription.”
Central Florida Republican Richard Gentry mentioned what involved him most was the proliferation of hemp-derived THC-infused drinks now being bought in shops like ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, the biggest liquor retailer chain in Florida. Those drinks will not be alcoholic however are nonetheless intoxicating.
Chas Bailes, president and CEO of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, informed the committee that his shops have begun stocking these drinks attributable to client demand over the previous six months. The most dosage within the drinks bought in his shops is 10 milligrams of THC. Some drinks in the marketplace can comprise as a lot as 100 milligrams.
‘In shock’
Surprising public testimony got here from a testing lab proprietor who mentioned his latest testing of hemp-derived merchandise discovered a majority of them above that 0.3 p.c THC restrict.
George Fernandez is founder and CEO of Modern Canna Labs, a Lakeland laboratory contracted with the Florida Department of Agriculture to check hashish and hemp merchandise. He testified that over the previous two quarters, his lab examined 50 out of 53 flower hemp samples from completely different smoke/hemp retailers throughout the state that had been over the 0.3 p.c delta-9 THC restrict. All informed, out of the 111 hemp samples his lab examined, 64 p.c failed (a complete of 71).
He added that he additionally discovered contaminants in these merchandise.
Perhaps most alarming, 49 out of 111 (44 p.c) of the samples failed for pesticides. Sixteen of the samples (14 p.c) failed for microbials, and 5 out of the 111 samples (or 4.5 p.c) failed for heavy metals.
“I’m in shock right now,” Salzman responded.
Fernandez mentioned that lots of the merchandise bought in Florida are examined by out-of-state laboratories, utilizing completely different testing processes and parameters. “I think labs here are held to a higher standard,” he mentioned.
The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill legalized hemp manufacturing, creating a big new trade in Florida (and throughout the nation). It led to the event of merchandise like delta-8 THC and different cannabinoids derived from hemp vegetation. That’s led to states throughout the nation enacting their very own rules over the previous few years, in some circumstances banning all intoxicating hemp merchandise interval.
Dr. Gillian Schauer with the Cannabis Regulators Association appeared remotely from Colorado to offer lawmakers an in depth view of how completely different states are working to manage the product. She listed some questions that legislators want to think about: What type of market would you like for cannabinoids? Which cannabinoids would you like shoppers to have entry to? Should there be limits on the quantity of intoxicating cannabinoids they will buy in a serving? Should they tax the product?
Polk County Republican Sen. Colleen Burton pushed by proposals to manage hemp in each the 2023 and 2024 legislative periods. The 2023 invoice was stripped of the provisions that the hemp trade decried however did embrace a prohibition on the sale of hemp-extract merchandise supposed for human ingestion to anybody underneath 21. It additionally required that packaging of such merchandise not be thought of enticing to youngsters.
In 2024, the Legislature handed a invoice (SB 1698) that banned all delta-8 THC merchandise within the state and restricted delta-9 THC ranges in hemp merchandise to five milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams per container. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed the measure last June following heavy lobbying from the hemp industry.
But the governor mentioned in his veto letter that he was encouraging the Legislature to rethink the subject throughout the 2025 session.
“Sensible, non-arbitrary regulation will provide businesses and consumers alike with much-needed sensibility—safeguarding public health and safety, allowing legitimate industry to flourish, and removing bad actors from the market,” he wrote.
For the third 12 months in a row, Burton has filed complete laws regulating hemp (SB 438), which incorporates limiting the quantity of THC to five milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams per container and limiting THC-infused drinks to not more than 5 milligrams per unopened can or bottle.
Duval County Democratic Sen. Tracie Davis has filed her personal model, as effectively, which would limit the amount of THC to 2 milligrams per serving and 20 milligrams per container. Meanwhile, Republicans Hillary Cassel (HB 601) and Dana Trabulsky (HB 1597) have filed corresponding measures within the House.
This story was first published by Florida Phoenix.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
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