A.G. Gancarski
A Florida House panel is poised to hear legislation that would impose new restrictions on the state’s hemp industry, including a ban on many substances currently in the marketplace and new restrictions on others.
HB 1613 changes the statutory definition of “hemp” to exclude delta-8 and delta-10-THC, THC acetate, hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), meaning these alternative cannabinoids would be banned from the state’s hemp market.
The bill, which will be heard Monday by the Agriculture, Conservation and Resiliency Subcommittee, would also limit delta-9 THC, which is the controversial substance said to induce euphoria by some and relief by others, to 2MG per serving and 10MG per container.
While no aggregate purchase cap like that in the state’s medical marijuana program is contemplated by the legislation, the change would impose new burdens on the state’s processors and retail markets, and would likely force consumers seeking therapeutic levels to buy smaller packages in bulk.
The bill also adds new packaging restrictions to ensure that the product is not “attractive to children,” a term of art adopted by the Legislature in last year’s hemp bill, which would now include a ban on images of “toys, novel shapes, animations, promotional characters, licensed characters, or other features that specifically target children.”
Packaging would also include the toll free number to the poison control hotline, assuming an amendment that aligns the Rep. Tommy Gregory bill with Sen. Colleen Burton’s Senate product, which advanced last week with bipartisan support in the Senate Agriculture Committee.
In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a hemp bill: SB 1676, which ultimately passed both the House and Senate unanimously after initial controversy. The bills originally envisioned a limit of 0.5 milligrams of THC per dose, or 2 milligrams per container, a proposal that rankled the hemp industry. But after industry pushback, the language was liberalized with a strike-all amendment.
Will history repeat itself this year? Or will the legislators resist the voices of stakeholders in the hemp sector?
8 comments
Dont Say FLA
January 27, 2024 at 7:09 pm
Here they go again. Florida’s wack ass G0P trying to make mountains.
Now they’re trying to outlaw Congressionally authorized goods that President Trump signed into law as 100% legal in 2018 and federal appeals courts have already affirmed legality after some other wannabees tried to outlaw hemp products..
Go back to your War on Sleep that you started after losing you War on Woke.
Rhonda and (ahem, cough cough) friends, y’all are one sad sack of dicks. Go get a real job a Floribama Community College or garbage pickup or something. Anything where we never have to hear from you again. Go “work” there.
Anthony
January 27, 2024 at 9:37 pm
This is just sick. This bill was paid for and lobbied for by Trulieve. They first pushed to have the MMTC application fee raised from $55,000 to over $1 million. Effectively making it impossible for small business owners to enter into the marijuana market. Now they’re going straight for the hemp industries throat. 10,000 small businesses could close and 150,000 jobs could be lost. This is horrendous that the government is actively creating a monopoly for corporate marijuana.
MH/Duuuval
January 28, 2024 at 12:14 pm
Bring it on, local growers! (The higher the THC, the less product required.)
Nope
January 29, 2024 at 7:00 am
There won’t be any local growers except those already in vertical pipeline (Trulieve). That’s the point. This bill, if passed, would kneecap Florida’s own agricultural sector from participating in what could be next gen level agriculture for state (think Oregon). It kills the grower industry and the small business industry in Florida selling hemp products. So it kills the whole economic ecosystem in favor of monopolies for lobbied corporations, true to type for this legislature. That’s Alll hemp products, not just consumables. The ramifications are just huge. And long term. It’s unbelievably stupid and corrupt. Whatever your politics, this is just plain stupid.
MH/Duuuval
January 29, 2024 at 11:42 am
Not talkin’ about those growers — but rather clandestine backwoods and indoor-closet growers. We’ve got great pot cultivators with knowledge of pot science.
Let a thousand thousand flowers bloom.
Kenny Johnson
January 29, 2024 at 10:23 am
I stopped taking opioid medication after 50 years. I did this because medical marijuana became available. It will be a horrible, nightmare if this bill shs today. Which means only 10 mgs. per package. now, we all would have to go and buy numerous packages because of the so little strenghth the 10 mgs. package contain. It will put 150,000 workers out in the street. We all tried so valiantly to get this farm bill passed. And now some lame brain got it in her head that this farm bill that passed is not valid.
Kenny Johnson
January 29, 2024 at 10:27 am
I gave all information you are asking me again. too bad you have such incompetent employees.
Mario Bove
February 1, 2024 at 9:16 am
If this bill passes you will force many , many patience like myself to start growing their own. If it comes to that, the state will lose millions, If not, billions.
of dollars A year.
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