SOURCE: Project CBD
EXCERPT:
A final bitter twist: concerns over this unregulated sector of intoxicating products (which are not actually meaningfully related to hemp) have led to calls to place more burdensome restrictions on the regulated cannabis sector. There has been a rash of bills in several states to raise taxes and permit fees on cannabis business to prohibitive levels, or to ban smokable flower from state-licensed medical marijuana programs. It’s a matter of stigmatization by association, according to the Green Market Report (Feb. 18), which noted: “The political backlash has been fueled in large part by the burgeoning intoxicating hemp industry, which generally operates without any of the state-level guardrails that have been established to keep marijuana businesses in check.”
A New York Times story (Jan. 25), “The Race for All-Powerful Pot,” depicted the legal cannabis industry in “a race to the bottom,” resorting to corner-cutting tricks like dusting joints with THC concentrate (which is certainly an affront to old-school growers). Among the factors driving this fast-buck atmosphere: “[T]he industry faces a growing threat from intoxicating hemp-derived compounds such as Delta-8, which can be sold more widely and with fewer restrictions.”
The elephant in the room is the apparent lack of concern regarding the health implications of distributing contaminated synthetic “hemp” derivatives into the consumer market. “I cannot imagine another legitimate industry that would be permitted to operate with such irresponsibility,” says Christopher Hudalla of Proverde Labs in Massachusetts. Yet this issue is rarely broached by product-makers, journalists, and lawyers when discussing the economic advantages enjoyed by counterfeit hemp entrepreneurs who benefit from operating on an unlevel playing field.
“Today’s unregulated ‘hemp’ industry isn’t about wellness or even hemp itself. It’s about making a fast buck by selling synthetic cannabis substitutes under misleading branding while ignoring the health and safety of consumers,” says Devitt. “Intoxicating hemp products are the cannabis equivalent of ultra-processed junk food. They make a mockery of the medical roots of the cannabis industry. And they have nothing to do with ecologically beneficial fiber hemp and nutritious hempseed oil that have gotten short shrift since the passage of the Farm Bill.”
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