{"id":63382,"date":"2023-04-03T10:10:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T18:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/04\/03\/florida-advocates-say-hemp-restriction-bill-gives-unfair-advantage-to-medical-marijuana-companies\/"},"modified":"2023-04-03T17:45:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T01:45:33","slug":"florida-advocates-say-hemp-restriction-bill-gives-unfair-advantage-to-medical-marijuana-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/04\/03\/florida-advocates-say-hemp-restriction-bill-gives-unfair-advantage-to-medical-marijuana-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Advocates Say Hemp Restriction Bill Gives \u2018Unfair\u2019 Advantage To Medical Marijuana Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exact intent of this bill is to eliminate 189,000 jobs and 10,000 small businesses.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hemp entrepreneurs from all parts of Florida have made the trek twice to Tallahassee this month to testify against a legislative proposal that they say poses an existential threat to their livelihoods.<\/p>\n

At the same time, states around the country have been enacting regulations regarding intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids, and that\u2019s become a conundrum for all sides of the hemp debate.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s hemp program went into effect in 2019, shortly after the passage of the 2018 farm bill, which made hemp production and distribution legal under federal law and allowed states to create hemp programs. The farm bill\u00a0defined hemp\u00a0as the cannabis plant with one key difference: hemp cannot contain more than 0.3 percent of THC, the compound in the plant associated with getting you high.<\/p>\n

The most lucrative part of the hemp industry has involved the production of biomass that contains cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound believed to treat health conditions like anxiety, stress, anxiety and inflation.<\/p>\n

But a new measure introduced in the Florida House this spring (HB 1475<\/a>)\u00a0would limit the amount of THC in hemp products to not exceed 5 milligrams per serving or 50 milligrams per package and prohibit those products to anyone under the age of 21. The Senate version calls for such products not to exceed 0.5 milligrams per serving, or just 2 milligrams per package.<\/p>\n

Completely ineffective<\/h4>\n

Vendors and patients say those levels are far too low and would make hemp products like gummies, CBD pre-rolls and oils and tinctures completely ineffective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have lupus and tremors and it\u2019s one of the reasons why I got into this business, so that I could make sure that the medicine that I received was the best and top quality,\u201d says Shaina Ortiz, the CEO of Siesta G based in eastern Hillsborough County.<\/p>\n

\u201cI operate on about 1,000 milligrams a day of hemp-derivative products. All different spectrums of that hemp derived products. This bill essentially would knock out any form of hemp, CBD\u2019s, HHC\u2019s (hexahydrocannabinol), CBN (cannabinol). The whole entire plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Schwarmann, the vice president of Outpost Brands, a Daytona Beach hemp manufacturer with 142 employees, says the current packaging limits would eliminate \u201cvirtually every hemp product\u201d on the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery vape and cartridge would all be eliminated, and when you have gummies of such small efficacy doses, less than 5 milligrams\u2014that\u2019s not enough for the majority of people who are using it strictly as therapeutic uses,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Their fears are not unfounded, says Nikki Fried, now chair of the Florida Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exact intent of this bill is to eliminate 189,000 jobs and 10,000 small businesses,\u201d the former state Agriculture Commissioner told the Phoenix.<\/p>\n

What about Delta-8?<\/h4>\n

Overall, the bill calls for hemp products to be illegal for anyone under 21 years of age; it requires packaging, labeling and testing requirements for hemp-based products; it requires that hemp products be sold in a container that is \u201cnot attractive to children\u201d and is designed to minimize exposure to light and high temperatures; and puts limits on doses and on the packages.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that last provision which is raising serious concerns.<\/p>\n

One of the main products that legislators want to regulate is what is known as Delta-8, which is legal and\u00a0soared in popularity\u00a0in 2020 at hemp and CBD stores around the country.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier, hemp and marijuana come from the same species of plant, but hemp can\u2019t contain more than 0.3 percent THC\u2014the main psychoactive ingredient that provides the \u201chigh\u201d when ingesting cannabis, per the 2018 U.S. farm bill. But Delta-8 also has psychoactive and intoxicating effects, says the FDA, though those who have consumed it say that it provides a lighter and more relaxed feeling and is ideal for those who don\u2019t want to get high from medical cannabis.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless\u00a0more than twenty states\u00a0have banned or restricted Delta-8 use in the past two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome will say that this bill will end the hemp industry,\u201d Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said. He was at a press conference<\/a> in the Department of Agriculture\u2019s office in the Capitol last week next to a display of photos of high-THC products that had been discovered in convenience stores by agriculture inspectors.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cLet me be clear\u2014the current wild, wild west situation, selling anything to anybody, is going to end. We will close the loopholes in state law being exploited to sell euphoric recreational cannabis products without restrictions,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

The black market<\/h4>\n

Carlos Hermida is the owner and manager of Chillum Glass Gallery and Hemp Dispensary that\u2019s based in the heart of Ybor City in Tampa.<\/p>\n

Like many of the hemp vendors who have made their way to the state capital in the past two weeks, he says he supports the restrictions to selling hemp products only to people 21 and older as well as packaging requirements in the bill. But he says that the limits on THC in hemp products will hurt patients, especially those who don\u2019t desire to use medical cannabis or can\u2019t afford to purchase their products, thus moving them to the black market.<\/p>\n

Hermida says that his mother recently took half of a 12-milligram gummy to help her get through the process of chemotherapy treatments she\u2019s enduring to treat her lymphoma diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the only thing that could get her to sleep at night and that is a small dose taken by a woman in her 70s just to help her sleep,\u201d he recounts. \u201cThat would be outlawed by this bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to call this bill the \u2018stay in your lane\u2019 bill,\u201d says Will Robinson, Jr., the bill sponsor in the House. He represents part of Manatee County.\u00a0\u201cYou have medical marijuana in one lane and you have hemp in another lane. And the lanes have gotten mixed together and this bill simply realigns those lanes into two clear lanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Holly Bell, the state\u2019s first (and only) director of cannabis who served in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) from 2019 to 2022, says that the 22 current medical marijuana companies that are licensed in the state have been allowed to drive in the hemp lane for years because they\u2019ve always been able to offer hemp products, while the reverse isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo they own hemp companies? Yes,\u201d she says. \u201cI helped and watched many of them start. So they\u2019re driving in our lane, but we can\u2019t get in theirs?\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson and Lakeland Republican Colleen Burton, the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill (SB 1676<\/a>), have both met up with hemp vendors since they introduced their legislation, and those conversations appear to have resulted in some tangible results.<\/p>\n

Robinson moved this week to increase the amount of milligrams in the products to 5 milligrams per serving or 50 milligrams per package. (His initial House bill called for regulating the levels of THC in hemp products to less than 2 milligrams per package and less than .5 milligrams per dose.)<\/p>\n

But it comes after Burton acknowledged at the bill\u2019s first committee meeting in the Senate that she had yet to meet with anyone from the industry, which raised concerns from some in the hemp industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an industry in the state of Florida where you have more than 100,000 jobs, more than $15 billion in economic activity, and lawmakers wrote a bill that would wipe the industry out without talking to one person in the industry? How do you write a bill that destroys 100,000 families, without talking to one person in the industry?\u201d asks Matt Schwarmann, the vice president at the hemp manufacturer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives an unfair competitive industry advantage to the medical marijuana licensees,\u201d adds Bell, who now works as the vice president of regulatory affairs for Flora Growth, an international cannabis company. She says that the current legislative proposal now moving through the process is similar to the regulations on hemp products that lobbyists with Curaleaf, one of the state\u2019s biggest medical marijuana companies, were pressing on the Agriculture Department to advocate for two years ago. She was referencing House and Senate bills related to regulating hemp products.<\/p>\n

Smoke and mirrors<\/h4>\n

Fried calls the emphasis on safety in the bill as \u201csmoke and mirrors\u201d and adds that if that was the main concern of lawmakers, they could change the age and packaging requirements and increase product testing.<\/p>\n

But the Legislature does seem determined to join up with the other states to regulate hemp and set per serving limits. (A bipartisan proposal to reform Delta-8 as part of a larger cannabis bill\u00a0failed to advance\u00a0in the 2022 legislative session). That\u2019s been viewed as a reaction to the lack of the federal government\u2019s oversight when it comes to THC products.<\/p>\n

\u201cHemp was the big new thing in the previous farm bill,\u201d Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a strong advocate for the 2018 federal legislation, said last month, according to\u00a0The Hill. \u201cSo far, it\u2019s not worked out like we had hoped. It\u2019s had a lot of challenges related to the difficulty of getting guidance out of the Food and Drug Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

As House Rep. Robinson noted this week, states have set their own hemp limits in recent years.<\/p>\n

Connecticut\u2019s edible hemp products are limited to 5 milligrams of THC per serving in 2021, according to that state\u2019s website which is now what Robinson\u2019s bill is calling for.<\/p>\n

Louisiana says servings cannot exceed 8 milligram per serving, according to that state\u2019s health department\u2019s\u00a0website. According to a 2021 report from\u00a0Marijuana Venture, most states mandate a maximum size of 5-10 milligrams per serving size of THC and a per-package limit of 50-100 milligrams. But some states are much higher, in per-package limits, such as Illinois (500 milligrams) and Montana (800 milligrams.)<\/p>\n

During the session, some hemp industry officials testified in committees saying that they claim that the legislation is being pushed by Trulieve, the Tallahassee-based medical marijuana company that possesses a quarter of the medical marijuana dispensaries in the state and is one of the largest cannabis companies in the country.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nonsense, say Trulieve officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cReports of Trulieve\u2019s involvement in this bill are false,\u201d said spokesman Steve Vancore. \u201cWe have taken no stance on it, are not engaged, or otherwise involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concerns from the public do seem to be registering.<\/p>\n

At the House Agriculture, Conservation and Resiliency Subcommittee week this past Monday, Palm Beach House Republican Rick Roth said that he did not want to see the hemp industry go dark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a dangerous precedent\u2014it\u2019s called a medical marijuana monopoly,\u201d Roth said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want that. We want the hemp industry to be able to provide good service to people. We do not want it all to go the black market.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Florida Phoenix.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

NBA Will Let Players Invest In Marijuana Industry And Promote Cannabis Brands Under New Union Deal, According To Report<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Lawson.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Florida Advocates Say Hemp Restriction Bill Gives \u2018Unfair\u2019 Advantage To Medical Marijuana Companies<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\u201cThe exact intent of this bill is to eliminate 189,000 jobs and 10,000 small businesses.\u201d By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix Hemp entrepreneurs from all parts of Florida have made the trek twice to Tallahassee this month to testify against a legislative proposal that they say poses an existential threat toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63382"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63383,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63382\/revisions\/63383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}