Gov. Gavin Newsom fired a direct attack Friday on the booming hemp industry, filing emergency rules that would completely ban THC — an intoxicating compound found in cannabis — from hemp products in the state.
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Hemp products are sold outside of regulated cannabis stores, and can be purchased online or at retail locations like gas stations throughout the state. Newsom said in a statement Friday that the emergency rules were needed to protect children.
“We will not sit on our hands as drug peddlers target our children with dangerous and unregulated hemp products containing THC at our retail stores,” Newsom said. “We’re taking action to close loopholes and increase enforcement to prevent children from accessing these dangerous hemp and cannabis products.”
The emergency rules would require that all hemp products in California have “no detectable amount of total THC,” and require that customers be over the age of 21 to purchase the products. The rules still need the approval of the California Office of Administrative Law before they go into effect, according to the Hill.
Hemp is closely related to marijuana. Both are cannabis plants but while marijuana remains federally illegal, Congress legalized hemp in 2018. That’s allowed the proliferation of hemp products that can be packaged into a wide variety of forms, from intoxicating vape pens and drinks to non-intoxicating medical tinctures.
The hemp industry has exploded in popularity in recent years, thanks to Hemp’s loose regulations that make it cheaper for both companies to produce and customers to buy the products compared to regulated cannabis. Some of California’s own licensed marijuana companies have started to abandon the legal cannabis market in favor of producing and selling hemp.
The California Cannabis Industry, a trade group that represents licensed marijuana companies, released a statement Friday morning saying Newsom’s emergency regulations will “create a safer, more transparent marketplace.”
“We commend Governor Newsom's decisive action to address intoxicating hemp products in California, protecting public health and ensuring that harmful, unregulated products no longer undermine our state's rigorous cannabis laws,” the statement said.
The California legislature attempted to shut down the growing hemp industry with a proposed law this year, but that bill stalled in the legislature amidst concerns that it would block access to hemp products that are used as life-saving medications. Newsom’s emergency rules released Friday appear to also block access to medical hemp products.
Newsom did not immediately return an SFGATE request for comment on Friday.
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