Connor Sheets | (TNS) Los Angeles Times
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed new emergency restrictions on California’s hemp industry, citing an urgent need to protect children. His concern: a class of loosely regulated products that contain intoxicating levels of THC, the compound known for causing cannabis highs.
While many agree some changes are necessary, a number of business owners and consumers worry the governor’s new rules are too strict and will kneecap a nascent industry just as it’s hitting the mainstream.
Critics say the proposed regulations would effectively outlaw a wide range of popular tinctures, capsules, beverages and other products derived from industrial hemp, including those that contain mostly CBD, a non-intoxicating cousin of THC.
Such offerings — which range from mild CBD sleep gummies to potent THC-filled drinks — are growing in popularity. Although they can have similar effects, these hemp-based products are different from those containing the cannabis-derived THC sold at many licensed dispensaries.
Hemp products are widely available at liquor outlets, gas stations and smoke shops, which the governor has cited as one of the key concerns that prompted his action.
Newsom announced the state’s proposed emergency rules on Sept. 6, after a bill to regulate the hemp industry failed in the state Legislature. The regulations are still under administrative review; if they’re enacted, it would become illegal for any “detectable” amount of THC to be present in hemp products.
The proposed rules also ban a list of about 30 “comparable” compounds known as cannabinoids, some naturally occurring and other synthetic chemicals that mimic the effects of THC, short for tetrahydrocannabinol.
Most hemp industry advocates acknowledge a need to tweak the rules to ensure products are safe and available only to adults, but they said Newsom has gone too far by taking a zero-tolerance approach.
Among those concerned are Jacob and Lindsey Dunn, proprietors of Sow Eden Organics, which operates out of a small space in La Verne. They produce, package and ship an array of industrial hemp-infused gummies and tinctures, which buyers consume to sleep better or find relief from pain, anxiety and other maladies.
When the Dunns, who have a 2-year-old son and a baby on the way, first met a decade ago, Jacob was still operating from his kitchen table, selling CBD capsules to medical dispensaries. They now have around $500,000 in annual gross sales, but Jacob said the new rules could potentially halve that total overnight because so many of their products contain low doses of THC.
Each of Sow Eden’s popular sleep gummies, for instance, has 2.5 milligrams of the compound. Many recreational cannabis products have 5 to 10 milligrams or more apiece.
“This is a full-on, family-run small business,” Lindsey Dunn said Monday. “It’s hard to know whether we can launch new products right now…. It’s a huge deal. It’s a huge expense.”
Newsom’s office and the state Department of Cannabis Control referred questions to the California Department of Public Health, which said the emergency rules were in response to “increasing health incidents related to intoxicating hemp products, which state regulators …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
