{"id":71238,"date":"2023-12-27T09:51:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T17:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/12\/27\/missouri-bills-would-regulate-hemp-derived-delta-8-thc-like-marijuana\/"},"modified":"2023-12-27T19:46:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T03:46:03","slug":"missouri-bills-would-regulate-hemp-derived-delta-8-thc-like-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2023\/12\/27\/missouri-bills-would-regulate-hemp-derived-delta-8-thc-like-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Bills Would Regulate Hemp-Derived Delta-8 THC Like Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re putting these things into the stream of commerce and you look at the 10th Amendment, there\u2019s really nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says that we can\u2019t clearly legislate this type of issue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Republican state senator has filed legislation to renew last spring\u2019s failed effort to regulate intoxicating hemp products in Missouri, such as Delta-8 drinks and edibles.<\/p>\n

Delta-8 THC products can be sold in stores in Missouri because the intoxicating ingredient, THC, is derived from hemp, not marijuana which is a controlled substance. And hemp is federally legal.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no state or federal law saying teenagers or children can\u2019t buy them or stores can\u2019t sell them to minors\u2014though some stores and vendors have taken it upon themselves to impose age restrictions of 21 and up.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no requirement to list potential effects on the label or test how much THC is actually in them.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from O\u2019Fallon who chairs the legislative committee that oversees Missouri\u2019s marijuana rules, said the products are too easily accessible to children, particularly teenagers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had constituents reaching out to me saying that their kids had been hospitalized,\u201d Schroer said.<\/p>\n

Schroer\u2019s bill<\/a> would task the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) with regulating these products, as the agency currently does for the state\u2019s marijuana program. And products would have to be sold at DHSS-licensed dispensaries. State Rep. Chad Perkins, a Bowling Green Republican, has filed a companion bill<\/a> in the House.<\/p>\n

DHSS spokeswoman Lisa Cox said the department does not take positions on proposed bills.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever,\u201d she said, \u201cwe do acknowledge the potential and ongoing public health impact of unregulated THC products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, Cox said there\u2019s has been an increase in children going to the hospital for cannabis exposure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department has increased its emphasis on regulatory mechanisms that protect health and children in order to minimize any contribution of the regulated cannabis market to such incidents,\u201d she said. \u201cAs of right now, there is no such protective framework for unregulated THC products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Hackman, president of the Missouri Hemp Trade Association, said his organization advocates for measures such as prohibiting sales to minors and mandating clear user instructions and rigorous product testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile any overdose report, especially those involving minors, is deeply concerning, this does not constitute a public health emergency but rather an opportunity for improved regulation,\u201d Hackman said in an email to The Independent in response to the legislation.<\/p>\n

The association opposes tasking the department with regulating the products and requiring them to be sold in dispensaries.<\/p>\n

A similar bill filed by Republican state Rep. Kurtis Gregory of Marshall got stuck in committee during the last legislative session<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During a hearing on the bill, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers pushed back on the idea of forcing the hemp industry under the umbrella of DHSS, saying that would allow the \u201cmarijuana monopoly\u201d to take over this market given the limited number of licenses for dispensaries available.<\/p>\n

After voters passed a constitutional amendment allowing medical marijuana in 2018, competition for licenses became fierce when the state capped the number of applications it would approve\u2014initially issuing 338 licenses to sell, grow and process marijuana.<\/p>\n

Widespread reports of irregularities in how applications were scored fueled criticism of the industry and accusations that insiders were building a monopoly. That criticism spilled into the campaign to legalize recreational marijuana last year, though the proposal still won voter approval<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some applicants who didn\u2019t land medical marijuana licenses turned to producing hemp-derived THC products.<\/p>\n

Another concern critics had last year was that hemp is federally legal, and lumping it in with the regulations of a controlled substance could result in lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Schroer said he\u2019ll be closely watching the ongoing legal case<\/a> of Robertsville-based marijuana manufacturer Delta Extraction.<\/p>\n

Delta Extraction had its license to manufacture cannabis products revoked<\/a> in November, months after a massive recall pulled more than 60,000 products off the shelves<\/a>\u2014which the state says were illegally made with a hemp-derived THC concentrate imported from out of state.<\/p>\n

While hemp is federally legal, state regulators argue that once hemp-derived THC comes into the marijuana realm, they can regulate it.<\/p>\n

The question currently before the Administrative Hearing Commission is whether or not Missouri regulators have the authority to prohibit licensed companies from infusing Missouri-grown marijuana products with hemp-derived THC.<\/p>\n

If the company loses its appeal before the commission, then Delta will continue to fight in court, the company\u2019s attorneys have said.<\/p>\n

And Delta will be arguing the state has no authority to regulate hemp products at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Division of Cannabis Regulation\u2019s authority to regulate is limited to non-hemp marijuana and does not depend on whether it is used to make THC,\u201d Delta\u2019s attorney, Chuck Hatfield, wrote in a recent letter to the department.<\/p>\n

Schroer said his proposed legislation will be mindful of the court\u2019s decision in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still going to use this judicial guidance to craft a type of law compliant with that case law,\u201d he said, \u201cthat is going to protect the youth of our state and any type of consumer of these types of products.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, a federal judge in Arkansas sided with hemp companies in granting a preliminary injunction on a state law\u2014similar to the one Schroer and Perkins have proposed\u2014aimed at regulating hemp-derived THC.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson said if Arkansas wants to participate in the federal hemp program, then it can\u2019t pick and choose which parts of the law it wants to follow.<\/p>\n

Despite the preliminary court order in Arkansas, Schroer said he\u2019s not convinced the federal government has the authority to prevent state legislators from passing laws to regulate intoxicating cannabinoids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re putting these things into the stream of commerce and you look at the 10th Amendment,\u201d he said, \u201cthere\u2019s really nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says that we can\u2019t clearly legislate this type of issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Missouri Independent.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

High School Students Say Marijuana Is Harder To Access Following Legalization For Adults, Canadian Study Shows<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Photo courtesy of Pexels.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Missouri Bills Would Regulate Hemp-Derived Delta-8 THC Like Marijuana<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\u201cWhen you\u2019re putting these things into the stream of commerce and you look at the 10th Amendment, there\u2019s really nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says that we can\u2019t clearly legislate this type of issue.\u201d By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent A Republican state senator has filed legislation to renew lastContinue 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\/71238"}],"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=71238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71239,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71238\/revisions\/71239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}