Amendment to proposed California hemp legislation could impose severe THC limits on finished products

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The U.S. Hemp Roundtable (Washington, D.C.) is raising the alarm about an amendment to Assembly Bill 420 (AB420) filed by the California Department of Public Health. AB420 was introduced by State Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a champion for the hemp industry, with the goal of cleaning up provisions in current hemp laws and cracking down on bad actors. Previously, Aguiar-Curry introduced AB-45 which was subsequently passed and signed into law. That bill removed restrictions on the sale of dietary supplements, food, beverages, cosmetics, and pet foods that include industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives of industrial hemp.

In that legislation, the Department of Cannabis Control was required to prepare a report by July 1, 2022, outlining the necessary steps for incorporating hemp cannabinoids into California’s cannabis supply chain. Based on this report, the Legislature was then tasked to come up with legislative action no later than the 2023-2024 legislative session. As such, this current bill (AB420) “would revise and recast the provisions with the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, regulating industrial hemp to redefine certain terms, expand the prohibition that raw hemp extract not exceed 0.3% of a tetrahydrocannabinol comparable cannabinoid, and prohibit the manufacture, distribution, or sale of an industrial hemp product that contains a cannabinoid that is not present in nature in commercially meaningful quantities, unless authorized by the department in regulation. The bill would require an out-of-state hemp manufacturer who produces an industrial hemp product that is a food or beverage for sale in this state to register with the department. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.”

However, the amendment filed by the state’s Department of Public Health would create “draconian” THC limits that benefit marijuana monopolists and would effectively eliminate the marketplace for broad spectrum and full spectrum hemp products, according to the U.S. Hemp Roundtable. Specifically, the amendment limits products made from hemp to five servings per package, and sets limits of total THC levels to 0.001 mg/g.

“The proposed 0.001 mg/g total THC limitation on hemp products in California would severely cripple, if not completely collapse, the state’s hemp-derived cannabinoid market while having a devastating impact on the industry nationwide,” said U.S. Hemp Roundtable General Counsel, Jonathan Miller, in a press release. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable is encouraging California stakeholders to reach out to Assemblywoman Aguiar-Curry, urging her to block efforts to impose these THC limits.