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Colorado Lawmakers Introduce Delta-8 THC Regulation Bill
Lawmakers in Colorado have introduced bipartisan legislation to regulate products with intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC.
Two Colorado lawmakers have introduced bipartisan legislation to regulate intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids including the increasingly popular compound delta-8 THC. The measure, Senate Bill 271, was introduced earlier this month by Republican Senator Kevin Van Winkle and his Democratic colleague, Senator Dylan Roberts.
Last year, Colorado lawmakers passed legislation authorizing the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) to begin the process of regulating hemp with intoxicating cannabinoids including delta-8 THC, a compound that can be produced from CBD. Although not as potent as delta-9 THC, the cannabinoid associated with the classic marijuana high, the legality of delta-8 under the 2018 Farm Bill has led to products with the compound being sold at retailers including convenience stores and smoke shops. Often, the products are marketed without restrictions such as maximum potency or a minimum age for purchasers.
The legislation passed in 2022 also established a task force to investigate intoxicating hemp cannabinoid products and to make recommendations for legislation and administrative rules. The recommendations made by the task force were then used as the basis for Senate Bill 271, according to the sponsors of the measure.
“Super potent products can be purchased online by anyone, including teenagers,” said Truman Bradley, a member of the task force and the executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, a trade association for regulated cannabis businesses in Colorado.
Bill Regulates Delta-8 THC Serving Size
Under the new legislation, hemp products with more than 2.5 milligrams of delta-8 THC would be regulated and sold only at licensed cannabis dispensaries in the state. Sales of delta–8 THC products through unregulated outlets such as convenience stores or online retailers would be prohibited.
Senate Bill 271 also tasks the CDPHE with regulating and registering hemp products, including certain intoxicating hemp products. The state Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division would regulate intoxicating products through administrative rules that would either authorize or prohibit the chemical modification, conversion or synthetic derivation of hemp compounds to create certain types of intoxicating cannabinoids. The agency would also be responsible for establishing labeling and advertising requirements, production and testing rules, and inspection and record-keeping standards.
Van Winkle said that he has some concerns about the legislation, which may be subject to amendments as the bill makes its way through the legislative committee process.
“The current legislation comes directly from the task force largely,” said Van Winkle. “Now we’ll need some changes to it. Right now, I believe that the limits are a little too high.”
“That is probably enough to get people in Colorado high, especially kids,” Van Winkle added. “So we might need to be lowering that limit and then put an overall package size limit.”
Senate Bill 271 also does not contain any limits on the number of servings that can be contained in a package, leading to the possibility of products that contain a high amount of delta-8 THC in one package.
“Right now, the bill doesn’t include a maximum package limit on THC,” Bradley said. “So you could have an unlimited amount of gummies, each 2.5 milligrams. That’s a problem.”
In a statement released last week, the Marijuana Industry Group said the intoxicating hemp market is “selling hundreds of millions of dollars in completely unregulated, untaxed products annually without ID checks, purchase limits, or safety restrictions. Under current law, kids can purchase these products, often shaped like popular candy, online and have them shipped anywhere or even pick them up at a local gas station or grocery store.”
In 2021, the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, in collaboration with the Marijuana Enforcement Division and Department of Revenue, issued a policy memo to clarify that chemical modification or conversion of cannabinoids from industrial hemp is not allowed. But Robert Hoban, an attorney specializing in cannabis law, said that the policy is not enforceable.
“The state of Colorado issued a policy statement last year that said you can’t sell these compounds in the state,” said Hoban. “That’s not the law. That’s merely a policy memo.”
Bret Worley, the CEO of hemp-derived cannabinoid wholesaler MC Neutraceuticals, said that he supports the current version of Senate Bill 271.
“I don’t truly believe that there’s any risk or concern at two and a half milligrams for a hemp-derived cannabinoid product,” said Worley, adding that he believes parents have to take responsibility for the children’s well-being.
“I believe, just like any medications, they should be locked up somewhere where a kid cannot reach them,” he said.
Senate Bill 271 has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee, which scheduled a hearing on the legislation for April 18.
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/colorado-lawmakers-introduce-delta-8-thc-regulation-bill/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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