Published On: January 28th, 2024Categories: Florida News

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?

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