Kathleen Roberts: Protecting Florida’s youth from unregulated, intoxicating hemp products

Here in Florida, we have common sense guidelines that prevent our state’s kids and teens from accessing drugs or alcohol. Alcohol cannot be marketed to children, and liquor can’t be sold at gas stations or convenience stores.

In order to access our state’s medical marijuana program, patients must be diagnosed with a qualifying medical condition by a doctor and can only access marijuana at one of the state’s 627 licensed dispensaries. These laws were passed to keep our communities safe. Unfortunately, there is a glaring hole in Florida’s regulation of intoxicating substances: intoxicating hemp-derived THC.

Congress legalized hemp production in 2018, and Florida followed suit the next year. Since then, we’ve seen a boom in products containing intoxicating hemp-derived alternative cannabinoids like delta-8 THC. These products are largely unregulated, and can be sold anywhere – at gas stations, convenience stores, or so-called “smoke shops.” They are widely accessible and increasingly popular.

It would be easy to assume that products that are so widely available have been evaluated to make sure they’re safe. Unfortunately, in the case of intoxicating hemp-based THC, that isn’t the case.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has named delta-8 as a psychoactive substance but does not evaluate it for quality or safe usage. Because delta-8-infused products contain much higher concentrations of the chemical than are naturally found in hemp, these drugs are typically synthetically derived from CBD.

There has been extremely limited research on the potential impacts or side effects of these synthetic compounds. It’s possible that harmful chemicals could be created as part of the process, and some scientists have raised concerns that delta-8-infused products could be contaminated as a result of the synthetic processing and lack of regulatory oversight.

Concerns over the safety of delta-8 THC are even higher when considering the misuse of the product by teenagers. A recent study showed that “at least one or two students in every average-sized high school class” used the intoxicating substance last year. While there is still not enough research on the impact of delta-8 THC on teenagers, we know that early marijuana use is dangerous. According to the CDC, “use beginning in teen years or younger may affect brain development which may impair thinking, memory, and learning.” Moreover, there is an association between early marijuana use and schizophrenia. Given the risks, we should be seriously concerned about the prevalence of this unregulated drug among young adults.

Young children are also at risk from consumption of delta-8 THC as a result of accidental ingestion. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of children hospitalized after consuming what they thought was candy but was, in fact, their parents’ delta-8 THC product. In their first year of monitoring for delta-8 THC, national poison control centers recorded 2,362 exposure cases. America’s Poison Centers, which represent 55 poison control centers around the country, recorded over 8,000 delta-8-related cases from 2021 to 2023. This risk is compounded by the fact that many of these intoxicating hemp products are sold in packaging that is attractive to children: made to look like candy, with colorful graphics and cartoon characters on the packaging.

We are not alone in our concerns over these unregulated, intoxicating hemp products. The Florida Legislature took action this session to pass common-sense regulations that would hold these products to “the same health and safety standards as other food products,” according to the bill’s sponsor. The legislation would also ban hemp products sold in “containers displaying toys, novel shapes, animations, promotional characters, licensed characters, or other features that specifically target children.”

The bill has passed both chambers of the Florida legislature and is now awaiting Gov. DeSantis’ signature. The legislation is set to go into effect on Oct. 1, if the Governor signs it. Taken together, these regulations included will go a long way toward protecting Florida’s children and young people — both from the risks of youth drug use, and the threat of accidental consumption.

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Kathleen Roberts is CEO of the Community Coalition Alliance.