SOURCE: Green Market Report
EXCERPT:
A new study funded by a small cadre of marijuana businesses in California found that intoxicating hemp products proliferating across the state are not technically “hemp” at all, based on the strict federal definition of hemp as cannabis with 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight.
The findings indicated that a majority of hemp products purchased and lab-tested by the group were mostly “synthetic intoxicants and illicit THC” that generally does not comply with state or federal cannabis laws. The investigation was paid for by retail chains Embarc, March and Ash, and a Southern California chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, backers said during a press conference presenting the findings.
“We’ve been watching the hemp industry emerge, and really, it’s basically exploded into a marketplace of highly intoxicating products,” said Tiffany Devitt, director of regulatory affairs with Groundwork Holdings, the parent company of March and Ash.
The problem, she said, is the new hemp trade lacks all of the institutional “checks and balances” that have been set up for the legal marijuana industry, which has led to a corruption of hemp products that simply aren’t what they say they are.
The findings, which were published in a white paper dubbed “The Great Hemp Hoax,” were based on lab test results from 108 hemp products made by 68 brands. Fifty-six of the products easily surpassed the federal THC limit for hemp; 88 of the products failed to meet the threshold set by California’s stricter hemp definition. Almost all of the samples – 95% – contained one or more prohibited synthetic cannabinoids.
The products tested by the study included some of the more well-known brands, Devitt said, including Cookies, Ikonik, Top Shelf and Cheech & Chong hemp products
Comments