TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Matthew Wetzel owns LGH Dockside Dispensary in Clearwater Beach.
His son was diagnosed with a very rare seizure disorder at just two years old.
“He’s just hot, hot, hot, hot, until he’s finished [having seizures] And he never did, but he could die,” Wetzel said.
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The doctor told Wetzel that his son would die. However, he discovered CBD products.
“Cannavidior was the only thing that could help him,” he said.
Now, Wetzel sells hemp products to help people like her now 13-year-old son.
For years he has fought for better regulations.
That’s something Polk County Sen. Colleen Burton is also fighting for.
“We have a strictly regulated medical marijuana market. Today, Florida has a highly unregulated hemp market,” she said.
Burton introduced a bill this week that would limit THC levels in hemp products to 5 milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams per package.
Also prohibited Delta 8, Delta 10 and synthetic products.
You can read the bill in full below.
“Delta 8 and Delta 10 are composite,” Wetzel said. “We don’t know.”
“We don’t have enough research into how it can react with the body after it’s consumed,” he continued.
The bill also requires a place to sell hemp-infused drinks to have a drug license.
Charles Bales is CEO of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Florida’s largest liquor retailer.
He said hemp drinks are becoming more and more popular.
“They sell a lot in all parts of Florida, especially in villages, Destin, Fort Myers, Tampa and Orlando,” he said. “I can’t explain how consumers look because they look like you and I look like them.”
Bailes says the best way to solve the problem of minors who are getting these THC drinks is to limit sales to locations over 21 to get in.
“THC drinks should be intoxicated, restricted and considered that way,” he said.
But that’s where Wetzel pulls out the line.
“You should be able to come to the pharmacy and make your cannabis oppose the liquor store,” he said. “We’re trying to limit that.”
“If you’re going to a liquor store, you’re combining something very deadly: cannabis and alcohol,” Wetzel continued.
