Montana Senators Weigh Bills To Limit Marijuana To 15% THC And Take Cannabis Revenue Away From Outdoor Conservation Programs

Lawmakers on a Montana Senate panel thought of two hashish payments at a listening to Thursday morning: one that may cap marijuana merchandise at 15 % whole THC and one other that may modify the place hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in income from authorized gross sales would go.

Members of the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee took public testimony on each payments—SB 443 and SB 307, respectively—however the panel didn’t take motion on both proposal.

A separate measure, which might require Montana adults to acquire a $200 license yearly to legally use leisure marijuana, was on the listening to agenda however not known as for dialogue. In response to an inquiry from Marijuana Moment, the invoice’s sponsor, Sen. Greg Hertz (R) replied merely: “SB 255 hearing was canceled.”

Hertz can also be the lead sponsor of the THC efficiency invoice, SB 443, which he launched earlier this week. If accepted, that measure would set a 15 % restrict on whole THC in all non-medical marijuana merchandise. It would additionally make clear that “total THC” consists of a number of types of THC, together with delta-9 THC, THC-A and THCP.

Under present state legislation, marijuana flower is capped at 35 % THC, although different merchandise within the state don’t have efficiency limits. Flower in most state adult-use markets sometimes incorporates between about 10 % and 30 % THC.

During public testimony on Thursday, dozens of trade representatives, coverage advocates and particular person commenters spoke out towards the plan, warning that it will damage marijuana growers and retailers, trigger customers to smoke extra closely and certain gasoline the illicit market.

Karen O’Keefe, director of state insurance policies for the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), informed the panel that many customers—together with her husband—use hashish to enhance sleep and handle ache.

“This bill would require Montanans to smoke more cannabis for the same effect, increasing costs and risks such as bronchitis,” she stated. “It would drive most of the demand to the illicit market, where cannabis is sometimes laced with fentanyl. Some will try to make concentrates at home, resulting in more hazardous extractions, causing explosions, injuries and deaths. It would recklessly push the entire vape market underground.”

In written testimony, MPP identified that no different state has set THC limits as little as the Montana invoice proposes.

“The lowest limit on flower in any state is 30%, while the lowest cap on concentrates (excluding vape cartridges) is 60%,” it says. “The majority of states have no cap at all.”

Jackson Kajander, a marijuana grower, informed lawmakers that it’s taken him years to develop and develop his genetic library of hashish varieties, which might must be rebuilt if the 15 % THC restrict turns into legislation.

“I currently don’t grow any strains that test under 20 percent THC. It would be beyond challenging to suddenly switch my genetic library to 15 percent or lower,” he stated, including: “It typically takes between 12 to 18 months to fully vet a strain before it’s determined to be a keeper.”

When senators requested how lengthy it will take to “draw down” the library and cut back marijuana to underneath 15 % THC, Kajander’s brother, Evan Kajander, famous that changing merchandise may take years.

“There would be no drawing down of the library. The library would be killed, and we would have to start over,” he defined. “There is no way to make a 25 percent potency plant suddenly be 12 [percent], and so we would have to start from scratch.”

Just starting to rebuild the crew’s library, he stated, would doubtless take between 12 and 24 months.

In an alert to supporters previous to Thursday’s committee hearing, the advocacy group NORML stated the proposal “seeks to fundamentally alter the state’s voter-approved adult-use legalization law,” echoing warnings cited by different audio system.

“Prohibiting adults from accessing higher-THC products from state-licensed retailers will not eliminate consumers’ demand for them. Rather, it will encourage consumers to seek out higher-THC products from the unregulated market,” NORML said. “It will also move the production of these products exclusively underground. This undermines the primary goal of legalization, which is to provide consumers with safe, above-ground access to lab-tested products of known purity, potency, and quality.”

In testimony to the panel, the group’s deputy director, Paul Armentano, additionally stated that “Rather than banning these products, regulators should provide the public with better safety information about the effects of more potent products, and they should continue to ensure that legal products do not get diverted to the youth market.”

“Unlike alcohol,” his testimony famous, “THC is incapable of causing a lethal overdose in humans.”

Total quantity limits of THC allowed Montana hashish merchandise wouldn’t change underneath SB 443. Capsules would nonetheless be restricted to 100 milligrams per capsule and 800 mg per bundle, tinctures to 800 mg, edibles to 100 mg per bundle and 10 mg per serving, transdermal patches and suppositories to 100 mg every and 800 mg per bundle, topicals to six % THC and not more than 800 mg per bundle and all different merchandise to 800 mg.

Several commenters identified that the invoice consists of no fiscal evaluation, which suggests lawmakers may overlook income losses which may end result from the THC cap if it pushes customers into the illicit market. MPP identified in its testimony that Montana took in additional than $50 million in tax income from authorized hashish in 2023.

Other audio system took concern with the invoice’s use of the phrase “slavery.” In its preamble, the measure says that “we reject the slavery of addiction that comes from the high-potency THC industry and its destructive products,” which some commenters known as inappropriate.

Lawmakers at Thursday’s listening to additionally took public testimony on SB 307, from Sen. Tom McGillvray (R). That measure would get rid of marijuana tax income at the moment flowing to fish and wildlife administration and public areas, in addition to disbursements to a veteran’s fund and the Montana Board of Crime Control. Instead, extra income would stream to the state’s normal fund in addition to the state’s Healing and Ending Addiction by way of Recovery and Treatment (HEART) Fund.

Commenters have been divided on the proposal, with some claiming that marijuana tax income ought to logically go towards funding dependancy therapy and restoration. Others, nevertheless, anxious concerning the results of taking cash away from public lands and wildlife packages.

Last month, a coalition of conservation teams raised concerns about the governor’s office and state lawmakers reallocating the “historic investment” within the outside that hashish income represents in Montana.

As for the adult-use registration invoice in the meantime, that measure—SB 255—would require adult-use cannabis consumers to register and pay a $200 annual fee to take part within the authorized program that voters accepted in 2020.

Adults would pay the charge annually to the state Cannabis Control Division, which might enroll them in this system and concern ID playing cards.

Upon making use of for the cardboard, there can be a 60-day interval the place adults may entry marijuana from licensed retailers. But in the event that they don’t pay the charge by the tip of that window, the division “shall cancel the temporary marijuana identification card.”

The textual content of SB 255 states {that a} “marijuana cardholder shall keep the individual’s marijuana identification card in the individual’s immediate possession at all times. The marijuana identification card and a valid photo identification must be displayed on demand of a law enforcement officer, justice of the peace, or city or municipal judge.”

The laws would additional amend the present state code to exchange language offering for “legal possession and use of limited amounts of marijuana legal for adults 21 years of age or older” with “marijuana cardholders and registered cardholders.”

Legalization advocates have balked on the proposal, noting that Montana can be the primary state to require adults to register and pay a charge to make use of marijuana.

“This is an outrageous attempt to gut the will of the people and re-criminalize cannabis for most Montanans,” O’Keefe at MPP, informed Marijuana Moment after the measure was launched.

“No other adult-use state forces cannabis consumers to enroll in a state registry, and the people’s initiative explicitly prohibits this surveillance and government overreach,” she stated. “Re-criminalizing cannabis for anyone who does not pay $200 per year to register with the state is an affront to Montana voters who made their voices clear when they passed Initiative I-190.”

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano individually informed Marijuana Moment that “the goal of this legislation is to circumvent the will of the majority.”

“Demanding adult consumers pay for a state-issued ID card and then requiring them to keep that ID card in their ‘immediate possession at all times’ undermines the fundamental freedoms that 57 percent of Montanans voted for.” he stated. “Lawmakers cannot on the one hand espouse the principles of personal freedom, limited government, personal privacy and on the other give any serious consideration to this legislation.”

Both MPP and NORML have urged supporters to contact their lawmakers and ask them to oppose the invoice.

Montana Conservation Groups Urge Officials Not To Take Away Marijuana Revenue Support

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.