Gabrielle Russon
State inspectors discovered nearly 200,000 hemp products illegally being marketed to children, with the state intervening to keep them off the shelves, said Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
The Department released photographs of the merchandise showing brightly colored products looking like candy that had been found at High Roller Private Label in Hollywood, according to a news release.
“The discovery of over 186,000 packages of hemp products targeting children serves as a stark reminder of the importance of protecting the safety and well-being of our communities — especially from euphoric, high-potency hemp products that can pose serious health risks when ingested by children,” Simpson said in a statement.
“As we continue to navigate the evolving landscape of hemp and cannabinoid products, we remain steadfast in our mission to uphold the highest standards of safety and accountability.”
FDACS inspectors issued stop-sale orders for 186,377 packages of hemp products. Simpson said a high number were “euphoric, high-potency products.” Out of the more than 186,000 products, 644 packages contained synthetic cannabinoids, including “THC-O” and “HHCO,” the press release said.
In the 2023 Legislative Session, the state beefed up laws to add age requirements for buying edible hemp products and banned marketing for those products targeting children.
“To enforce these law changes, the department conducted the largest ever inspection sweep of businesses selling hemp products in the summer of 2023,” the agency said in a press release. “The sweep included inspections of more than 700 businesses in all 67 Florida counties and uncovered over 83,000 packages of hemp products, including euphoric, high-potency THC products, targeting children.”
That’s led to FDACS inspectors issuing stop-sale orders for more than 631,000 hemp products illegally targeting children and more than 420,000 packages containing illegal synthetic cannabinoids since July 2023, the agency said.
In Florida, the hemp industry is among the biggest in the nation.
High Roller Private Label did not immediately return a phone message left for comment.
8 comments
Dont Say FLA
April 17, 2024 at 2:09 pm
President Trump signed the Farm Bill into law on December 20, 2018.
Results include, but are not limited to, Delta 8, Delta 10, THC-O, THC-X, HHCO.
Congrats to Trump on doing one decent thing as President!
…even if it was entirely by accident, which of course it was by accident, as indecent people do not knowingly commit acts of decency.
tom palmer
April 17, 2024 at 2:22 pm
We are left to guess where these storers are and whether they would be businesses children would actually visit and many other circumstances that might affect whether minors would be able to make purchases there. This sounds more like a political campaign under the guise of something else to defeat the amendment. Free State of Florida indeed.
Ron Forrest Ron
April 17, 2024 at 3:23 pm
Could it be that actual candy is the problem? If it weren’t for candy, kids wouldn’t think everything’s candy. Get rid of the candy and then we can leave the adults with their adult stuff to have their adult fun and nobody can make claims about straw children.
Anthony
April 17, 2024 at 5:26 pm
They swear till theyre blue in the face that theyre “marketing towards children” but never EVER specify what that even MEANS. Yes the idiots making knock offs of actual children brands are one thing, but its looking like thats not what they mean.. are they seriously going to make the claim that because the method of delivery into your body is a candy or sweet, that its being marketed to children, then i will never support any of the politicians at fault again. Thats flat out malicious generalization purely done to perpetuate the false stigma thats been unjustly built against cannabis. What a literal FARCE.
Dont Say FLA
April 19, 2024 at 1:58 pm
Yeah, G0P claims of “do it for the children” and/or “family values” can always be taken to mean “we have no legitimate concern here and no standing to legislate regarding this fabricated concern, but regardless, legislate we shall”
Florida is one hell of a drug.
Ban Candy
April 21, 2024 at 9:19 pm
Ban candy. Duh. It’s plenty bad for kids as is. No need to make candy ass arguments about hemp products seeming to be similar to candy. The candy is the problem.
Monday news
April 22, 2024 at 8:25 pm
I understand Dems can legalize a schedule one or two ,free it’s dealers, and trump gets 96 counts
Dont Say FLA
April 23, 2024 at 3:12 pm
Monday Snooze, I like your idea! Drain the prisons of people who never hurt anybody, making room for the people who did.