Senate unanimously votes to restrict hemp, THC ahead of potential marijuana referendum

Sen. Colleen Burton.

Senators unanimously approved legislation crimping the state’s hemp industry, as well as more tightly regulating THC, as voters await news on whether they’ll have a chance to vote on legalizing recreational marijuana this November.

Florida’s hemp market is currently the second biggest in the country in terms of agricultural area allotted to the plant. Sen. Colleen Burton’s bill (SB 1698) proposes a number of material changes to what the sponsor calls an “unregulated market” and a “continuation” of work begun by the Legislature in 2023.

These include a ban on currently commercially available and federally legal products, along with a cap on delta-9 THC, which could negatively affect the 487 growers and roughly 10,000 retail outlets in the state.

Her bill enjoys the support of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). And it came with new changes during its first hearing by the full Senate on Wednesday, a meeting that set up the floor vote.

Democrats affirmed the bill as well, with Sen. Tracie Davis of Jacksonville differentiating between the “almost perfection” of regulation in the medical marijuana sector, and the need to “make sure Floridians are protected” from other cannabis products.

Amendments added ahead of the floor vote include language deeming products that look like “toys” as attractive to children, $2 million in nonrecurring funds to allow the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for testing equipment, and language pushing back the effective date of the legislation to Oct. 1, 2024, to allow more time for implementation.

Other than those changes, the legislation is the same as it had been in previous stops.

The bill would ban cannabinoids that serve as functional alternatives to delta-9 THC, the euphoria-inducing compound commodified by the state’s medical marijuana program.

The banned substances would include delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol, delta-10-tetrahydrocannabinol, hexahydrocannabinol, tetrahydrocannabinol acetate, tetrahydrocannabiphorol and tetrahydrocannabivarin.

It revises the definition of “hemp” to “outline that hemp extract may not exceed 0.3% total delta-9-THC concentration on a wet-weight basis or exceed 2 milligrams per serving and 10 milligrams per container on a wet-weight basis.”

That sets a more rigorous standard than the federal one established in the 2018 Farm Bill that created initial parameters for the then-fledgling industry without arbitrary packaging limits. It would also impact full-spectrum CBD products, which meet the federal requirements and include minor cannabinoids as well.

The bill, if it passes, is a boon to the medical marijuana industry, as it removes competition for market share the hemp sector provides with THC, HHC and other cannabinoids that interact with CB1 receptors.

An identical version of the bill (HB 1613) is moving through the House as well, with the GOP Rep. Tommy Gregory product advancing through The House Infrastructure Strategies Committee Thursday, complete with amendments matching those on the Senate side.

Reps. Angie Nixon, Anna V. Eskamani and Hillary Cassel were voices of opposition on the Democratic side, but the numbers weren’t with them.

Meanwhile, the sponsor warned about people making the choice to “self-medicate” in their close, wondered why the industrial hemp sector couldn’t make it without support from other product lines in his close, and chided opponents of his bill as having a “libertarian view of the world.” Gregory also complained about infused honey products, saying one “looks like a lollipop.”