TALHASSEE — Less than a year after Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected laws overhauling Florida’s Hemp Marketplace, Florida senators are trying again.
On Monday, the bill reforming the hemp market moved through its first committee meeting in the Senate. The house has not yet heard of the laws of his friends.
Some of the ideas for the Senator’s package are the same as those found in the bill Dasantis rejected last year. The others are new.
When Desantis rejected last year’s bill, he said it would put too much strain on small businesses.
However, sponsors of both this year’s law and the rejection bill said lawmakers should also weigh concerns about the health and safety of hemp products.
Here’s what you need to know about what the proposal, SB 438, means for HEMP businesses and users.
Prohibition of Delta-8
Many of the products lined up at smoke shops in the state now become illegal under Sen. Colleen Burton’s proposed bill.
The cannabis plant contains over 100 cannabinoids. Delta-9 is what users normally consider to be THC and is a compound that produces a high sense.
Delta-8 can also produce psychoactive effects, but it is not powerful and is thought to occur more naturally than Delta-9. However, producers can use chemical processes to convert other cannabinoids to Delta-8.
The bill changes the definition of hemp extracts to prohibit the inclusion of “any amount of synthetic cannabinoids.” Additionally, Delta-8, Delta-10, HHC, THC-O-Acetate, THCP, and THCV are prohibited.
A similar ban was denied last year. Opponents said the ban could affect trace amounts of cannabinoid products that are not intended to produce a “high” sensation like certain CBD tinctures.
The remaining legal products based on the invoice will close with 5 milligrams of Delta 9 THC per serving or 50 milligrams per container.
Alcohol license is required
Under the bill, canned drinks containing THC could only be sold at stores with licenses to sell alcohol.
Additionally, a maximum strength limit for THC drinks is required, limiting it to 5 milligrams per unopened can. The bill also prohibits alcohol from being included in THC drinks.
According to a blog from Harvard Medical School, cannabinoids found in beverages are designed to easily dissolve in liquids. In other words, it will have a faster effect as it is absorbed into the body.
Michael and Caitlyn Smith, owners of St. Petersburg-based non-alcoholic bottle shop Herban Flow, opposed the beverage requirements.
Neither of them would make sense to ask for a store that focuses on not selling alcoholic beverages, but not having an alcoholic license.
Michael Smith said he is in favor of chasing delta 8 and synthetic cannabinoids.
“They are trying to take a bill to close smoke shops. When our mission is different, they are taking us within it,” Michael Smith said. “We’re trying to provide an alternative to people trying to get away from alcohol.”
Hemp Shop Advertisements, Limit Locations
If passed, this bill does not mean a strip mall filled with back-to-back smoke shops.
The law restricts where hemp stores can set up. It is a ban on stores that sell hemp and can be installed within 500 feet of schools or nursery schools, gas stations, or another retailer that is permitted to sell hemp.
When DeSantis proposed how Congress could reform the hemp market in the rejection of last year’s bill, he said lawmakers should “consider measures to prevent the ubiquitous and concentrated in communities across the state.”
The bill also limits what hemp shops will look like to visitors. Our current shop offers easy access products. The proposal requires that all hemp products be kept out of reach in locked displays or areas only accessible to employees, except for drinks.
Advertising will also change dramatically. Companies are no longer able to advertise using “THC,” “medical cards,” or other similar terms.
Additionally, businesses are no longer able to advertise in a way that public members can see from sidewalks and streets, and hemp shops operate like medical marijuana facilities.
Test regulations
Florida hemp is being tested in the same lab where medical marijuana is being tested under the bill, and two lab employees need to make sure it meets strong requirements and is free of contaminants.
The bill also creates a pathway for state officials to randomly test products from hemp shelves.
If the tested product fails, it must be recalled.
Times/Herald analysis showed that many HEMP products are at THC levels high enough to classify them as marijuana, and that some contaminants are not safe for human consumption.
Burton said the tests would confirm that “the product is actually a hemp product, not a marijuana product wearing hemp clothing.”
