State looks at hemp
Bills in the Legislature could potentially ban some hemp and CBD products
Vito Knowles, owner of Extract Shak in Crawfordville, with some hemp products that would be banned under the bills. He claims hemp extracts help anxiety and relieve pain.
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN Editor
Vito Knowles, owner of ExtractShak in Crawfordville, which sells CBD and hemp products, said he expected some sort of state regulation – but current bills pending in the Legislature “would regulate us out of business.”
Knowles is referring to HB 1475 and SB 1676. The House bill limits 5 mg of THC in a single product and a total of 50 mg per package.
The Senate Bill has tighter regulations: it is proposed at .5 mg of THC per product or 2 mg per package.
THC is a naturally occurring compound in marijuana that produces a high. Hemp contains lower levels of THC and was allowed to be developed under the 2018 farm bill – but it can’t contain more than .3% THC.
But ways have been developed to isolate naturally occurring within hemp – such as Delta-8, Delta-9, Delta-10 and now Delta-11 – which contain THC, and then concentrate it and put it in gummies and other products.
While Delta-8 and other extracts have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, Knowles credits the products with helping people deal with anxiety and pain.
The Legislature, acting on the issue as a child protection matter, has proposed prohibiting sales to anyone under 21 and saying the packaging must not be attractive to children – which are proposals Knowles say he and other CBD stores support.
He claims that what is really pushing the bill are the big marijuana dispensaries that see the CBD stores as competition.
“The bill is confusing, but at the end of the day, it’s intended to put us out of business,” he says, adding: It would eliminate 189,000 jobs and close 10,000 small businesses.
Knowles said when he first started the store selling only CBD products his sales were $1,000 a day. With the development of Delta-8 and other derivatives, his sales have more than doubled to $2,500 a day.
Under the bill, he would be forced to go back to the CBD isolate.
