CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – An Eastern Iowa hemp distributor said his company was having a hard time navigating Iowa’s new THC-Hemp law.
This past legislative session, lawmakers passed a law that implemented an age limit and reduced the amount of THC allowed in hemp-derived products.
Corey Coleman said he worked with his attorney to ensure he was in compliance when the new law went into effect, but he’s still struggling to get one product on Iowa’s shelves, even after the state initially approved it.
“We’re down considerably from last year.” Said Coleman.
Coleman said he and his attorney reviewed several products to ensure that what he was going to apply to sell would follow Iowa’s state law. He said he was able to get 14 of the 15 products approved pretty quickly after that.
“We started selling drinks; those were the easiest to get in compliance. Then we have the Skysicles, which are like freeze pops, and we have our four mixers,” said Coleman.
He thought he was off to a good start getting products once again legal to sell in Iowa but after two months he said four of his products were dis-proved. Iowa Department of Health and Human Services sent him a letter saying it was looking into the product and another saying he was no longer allowed to sell it.
“Our products were designed to allow consumers to make and mix their drinks,” said Coleman.
TV9 reached out to HHS for comment on this story and to learn how many appeals the department had seen. At the time of this being published, TV9 had not heard back. But in letters sent to Coleman from HHS, the department deemed the reason the product wasn’t in compliance was because it was a liquid which, per the new law, needed to be sold in a 12 oz container. Coleman said his product was a syrup mixer.
Coleman believes this might be a misunderstanding because this process is new to HHS.
“There are a lot of things that are going on that still need to be fixed,” said Coleman. “I think we uncovered a couple of overlaps of regulation.”
Coleman said he is still working with HHS and does have some new products that he will soon be able to sell.
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