{"id":75227,"date":"2024-05-13T11:41:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T19:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/05\/13\/indiana-lawmakers-weigh-restrictions-on-hemp-derived-delta-8-thc-products\/"},"modified":"2024-05-13T12:45:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T20:45:26","slug":"indiana-lawmakers-weigh-restrictions-on-hemp-derived-delta-8-thc-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/05\/13\/indiana-lawmakers-weigh-restrictions-on-hemp-derived-delta-8-thc-products\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana Lawmakers Weigh Restrictions On Hemp-Derived Delta-8 THC Products"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be the policy of the government to allow people to alter their minds.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Leslie Bonilla Mu\u00f1iz, Indiana Capital Chronicle<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the nearly six years since a federal law appeared to open the doors to delta-8, the marijuana-like drug has grown into a billion-dollar Hoosier industry.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s done so on shaky legal ground, leaving retailers and law enforcement officials alike seeking legislative clarification: is delta-8 allowed in Indiana?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legislature needs to act to provide regulatory certainty for businesses and legal certainty for both law enforcement and prosecutors,\u201d Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, told the Capital Chronicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the absence of us doing anything, there\u2019s just this huge legal gray area, and it breeds a ton of problems,\u201d said Teshka, who\u00a0authored an unsuccessful attempt to regulate delta-8 last session.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers, however, indicate a Senate-House stalemate is unlikely to give\u2014even with the state on the hook for a year-old lawsuit over the hemp-derived psychoactive\u2019s status.<\/p>\n

Hemp frenzy<\/h4>\n

Congress revived the industrial hemp industry in 2018\u2019s agriculture-focused farm bill by removing the plant and its seeds from the definition of marijuana.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s generally considered legal as long as it contains less than 0.3 percent delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol\u2014or THC, the major psychoactive component in the plant\u2014by dry weight. Above that, it\u2019s considered banned marijuana.<\/p>\n

Indiana promptly followed suit. Lawmakers in 2018\u00a0legislation\u00a0used the same delta-9 cutoff in legalizing low-THC hemp extracts, and\u00a0added more hemp-related regulations in\u00a0another law\u00a0the following year.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s delta-8 industry has boomed, as an apparently legal alternative to marijuana.<\/p>\n

About 540 Indiana retail stores and nearly 1,400 gas stations have sold about $637 million worth of hemp-based cannabinoid products, according to a 2023\u00a0study\u00a0by hemp-cannabis data firm Whitney Economics. Those sales made a total economic impact of about $1.8 billion, the company found.<\/p>\n

But concerns over delta-8\u2019s legality have dogged the industry\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n

The Indiana State Police (IPS), for instance, has long held that Indiana Code classifies all THC types\u2014both naturally occurring and synthetic\u2014as Schedule I controlled substances, according to comments spokesman Capt. Ron Galaviz made to\u00a0Indiana Public Media\u00a0in 2021. The designation means a substance has no accepted medical use but does have a high potential for abuse.<\/p>\n

Stuck at the Statehouse<\/h4>\n

Within a year of legalization, lawmakers like Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, began filing unsuccessful attempts to\u00a0walk back\u00a0the state\u2019s freshly inked stance on certain hemp products, such as cannabidiol (CBD) oil.<\/p>\n

Then, they turned to delta-8.<\/p>\n

Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, repeatedly proposed editing the 0.3 percent delta-9 cutoff to include all THC types. Bills in 2021\u00a0and\u00a02022\u00a0would\u2019ve banned most delta-8 products.<\/p>\n

Proposals regulating the substance haven\u2019t survived the legislative process either.<\/p>\n

The contention escalated into a lawsuit last June, when the state\u2019s top attorney opined that delta-8 is illicit. The advisory came in response to an ISP and Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council request for guidance.<\/p>\n

Retailers sued, alleging raids and other repercussions.<\/p>\n

Some on both sides of the equation\u00a0still want answers from the Statehouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is absolutely a public policy question,\u201d said Justin Swanson, co-founder and president of the Midwest Hemp Council. The trade organization, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, has dozens of members.<\/p>\n

Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson said he agreed with Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita\u2019s (R) legal interpretation, but still directed his deputies to back off on enforcement in a February special order.<\/p>\n

He reaffirmed a policy of issuing citations instead of making physical arrests for simple possession of marijuana, and halted raids of retailers for the sole purpose of investigating delta-8.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like knowing the law that I\u2019m enforcing has solid ground underneath it,\u201d said Robinson, who is not involved in the legal battle. He thinks delta-8\u2019s legal status is \u201cup in the air\u201d and \u201cin flux.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I ultimately think that the attorney general is correct, and that delta-8 is illegal? I do,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cBut\u2026we have an obligation not to bring charges that we are unsure about whether we will be successful in obtaining a conviction or not, and I just don\u2019t want to be the test case. I\u2019d rather have the Legislature clarify this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case against<\/h4>\n

Although Republicans hold supermajorities in both the Indiana Senate and House, the two chambers disagree on some issues\u2014including on delta-8.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be the policy of the government to allow people to alter their minds,\u201d Young, the Indianapolis senator, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s what the House of Representatives wants, is to have people alter their faculties, they did the right thing,\u201d Young said, by killing his attempts to ban the substance.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t yet have plans to try again.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026[If] I know that delta-(8) is not going to be heard in the House, why would I waste a bill?\u201d Young asked.<\/p>\n

Brown, meanwhile, worried about health and safety, particularly for the state\u2019s youngest residents.<\/p>\n

Brown, the Fort Wayne senator, feared children would use delta-8 as a \u201cgateway\u201d to other drugs, and noted a rise in accidental poisonings.<\/p>\n

Hoosiers make thousands of poison control calls per year for edibles, according to\u00a0WTHR. About 75 percent of calls in recent years were for children who\u2019d gotten into the adult products. Some required hospitalization.<\/p>\n

Brown indicated there are too many unknowns to delta-8, saying, \u201cI\u2019m not opposed to a medicinal product that has been tested and proven, but this is the Wild West.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to understand what is the good and the bad, and have very clear guidelines,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019m not sure that we have the ability to do that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case for<\/h4>\n

Other lawmakers shared that unease but saw alternate fixes.<\/p>\n

Teshka, for instance, similarly described feeling alarmed by delta-8 candies with designs that could appeal to children. But he viewed regulation as the \u201cbest way to address these concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mind, it\u2019s pretty clear that the 2018 Farm Bill made hemp-derived cannabinoids like delta-8 legal, so whether that was intended or not, that is the law of the land. In the absence of the state\u2026regulating the product, it really opens the door for potential bad actors, for contaminants in products, for children to get their hands on these things,\u201d Teshka said.<\/p>\n

His\u00a0House Bill 1079 last session would have added new hemp handling licenses, packaging requirements, and an age minimum of 21 years old\u2014complete with financial penalties. It passed the House 85-11, with nine of the \u201cnay\u201d votes from fellow Republicans, but never got a Senate hearing.<\/p>\n

Legislation from Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, would\u2019ve gone even further.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 59\u00a0included many of the same provisions as its House counterpart but would also have specifically banned \u201ccartoon-like\u201d designs appealing to children and required \u201ctamper-evident\u201d packaging.<\/p>\n

The bill additionally imposed testing requirements featuring maximum levels of heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, molds and more. And it penalized violations with license suspensions and revocations in addition to the fines.<\/p>\n

It never got a hearing in its originating chamber and succumbed at the session\u2019s first deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Legislature could provide some guidance, but we can\u2019t seem to get consensus. I know the House has passed legislation before. It gets bogged down in the Senate,\u201d Holdman said. \u201cAnd I just want some regulation on the product being sold currently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked for his outlook, Holdman said, \u201cI think it\u2019s going to get resolved eventually. Because we\u2019ve got to do something with it: either to make it illegal legislatively\u2026or to regulate. One of the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking beyond<\/h4>\n

Justin Journay moved his delta-8 company 3Chi from Ohio to hemp-friendly Indiana in 2019. But as the legal interpretation that the substance is banned has taken hold, he\u2019s been expanding manufacturing operations elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Journay, whose firm is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, estimates that in \u201cnear future,\u201d 50 percent or more of the business could be back out of state.<\/p>\n

Despite that, he wants to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy house is here, everything\u2019s here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve built a life here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal Judge James R. Sweeney II, of the Southern District of Indiana court, dealt the plaintiffs a blow in late March when he\u00a0denied\u00a0their request for a preliminary injunction, finding they didn\u2019t establish irreparable harm.<\/p>\n

Sweeney wrote that he\u2019d next consider several pending motions to dismiss and for judgment on the pleadings.<\/p>\n

But federal action\u2014which supersedes the state\u2019s Legislature and judiciary\u2014could be on the horizon.<\/p>\n

The Farm Bill is typically renewed every five years, and it\u2019s overdue for its next update.<\/p>\n

Several states, Indiana included, welcomed clarity from the nation\u2019s top law-making body.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Congress prepares to embark on a new five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill, we strongly urge your committees to address the glaring vagueness created in the 2018 Farm Bill that has led to the proliferation of intoxicating hemp products across the nation and challenges to the ability for states and localities to respond to the resulting health and safety crisis,\u201d the attorneys general of 20 states\u2014including Indiana\u2014and the District of Columbia wrote in a March letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe definition of hemp should be amended to clarify that there is no federal hemp intoxicants loophole, and the 2023 reauthorization should reaffirm that members of Congress do not intend to limit states in restrictions or regulations related to cannabinoids or any other derivatives of hemp which are deemed intoxicating,\u201d Rokita and the other officials wrote.<\/p>\n

Congress passed\u00a0an extension of the Farm Bill last fall, but progress since then has been slow.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Indiana Capital Chronicle.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Another Poll Shows Florida Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative Just Shy Of Support For Passage<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

The post Indiana Lawmakers Weigh Restrictions On Hemp-Derived Delta-8 THC Products<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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