In Missouri, state officials are orchestrating a quiet crackdown on stores that sell hemp products. It’s targeting “intoxicating” products—like smokeables or edibles—that contain cannabinoids derived from hemp. Store owners are objecting, and demanding greater legal and political clarity around hemp products.
Hemp and cannabis are the same plant; the legal distinction is that “hemp” contains 0.3 percent or less of the cannabinoid THC by dry weight, while “marijuana” contains more THC.
Missouri’s move has been imminent ever since Governor Mike Parson (R) signed an executive order on the issue on August 1. It stated that “there are currently no safety standards, packaging requirements, or other regulations related to the safety of consuming unregulated psychoactive cannabis products in Missouri,” and that “numerous Missourians have been negatively impacted by the consumption of foods with unregulated psychoactive cannabis products added to them.”
The governor ordered that any foods containing unregulated cannabis would be designated as “unapproved,” and would be considered “deleterious, poisonous, and adulterated.” He ordered the state health department to “embargo and condemn” any such products. He also issued an order, through the state alcohol and tobacco department, to ban unregulated cannabis products being sold at any liquor-licensed business.
Gov. Parson made clear, however, that these new rules do not affect the state’s legal cannabis market—voters approved marijuana legalization in November 2022—as long as those products are made and sold by specifically licensed businesses.
“More states are starting to ban or remove from shelves products that are high-THC.”
Missouri is not an outlier, according to Geoff Whaling, chair of the National Hemp Association—multiple other states have taken action to restrict hemp-derived products. According to the Cannabis Business Times, at least 17 states have outright banned sales of “intoxicating” hemp products like delta-8 THC, while at least seven states have restricted the maximum dosage of THC allowed in such products.
“As more states look at the reality that there are now products being developed, that in their opinion do not fit the definition of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill, they are starting to ban or remove from shelves products that are high-THC,” Whaling told Filter. “That’s been happening over the last couple years, and across the country there is legislation or executive orders being issued that say these products do not fit [the definition], they are psychoactive THC elements and not permitted.”
Already, Parson’s order is resulting in angry business owners alleging that Missouri’s enforcement against hemp products is arbitrary and illegal.
According to the Missouri Independent, employees at a gas station in Sedalia reported being visited by Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) representatives on September 3. The officials reportedly asked employees if the store had any hemp products on shelves, which the owner had already removed and stored in a box in the office. The state officials claim they called the owner and got his voluntary agreement to destroy the hemp products. But the owner contradicted that account, and said they forced him to spend two hours pouring bleach over products valued at $5,000.
The DHSS told the Missouri Independent that as of September 5, it had visited 44 businesses to do inspections for hemp products. About half of the stores had hemp products for sale, but nearly all agreed voluntarily to discard or embargo the products. Meanwhile, the Missouri Hemp Trade Association reported that at least three stores had been “raided” by state officials and essentially forced to destroy products. (The Missouri and National associations are unaffiliated.)
The state health department must go through a rule-making process to reach such a decision, the lawsuit argues—otherwise, the order is “void and of no effect.”
The hemp industry has already been striking back. On August 30, lawyers for the Missouri Hemp Trade Association sued the state health department in a Jefferson City state court, arguing that Parson’s action is illegal. The lawyers say that Parson cannot just declare foods with cannabis products to be “adulterated” by the stroke of a pen. Under state law, they argue, the state health department must go through a rule-making process to reach such a decision—otherwise, the order is “void and of no effect.”
The lawsuit states that the unregulated cannabis products targeted by Gov. Parson are legally “industrial hemp commodities or products”, that foods containing them are by definition not adulterated, and that “they are not poisonous or deleterious.” By Missouri state law (and federal law), industrial hemp is any cannabis plant that contains less than 0.3 percent THC, and by definition is not intoxicating. Only cannabis with a higher THC level would qualify as a drug under state law.
The Cannabis Business Times explains that Missouri’s health department follows DEA guidelines, but state law does not specify that a food product is adulterated if it contains industrial hemp ingredients.
Parson’s executive order is notable when state lawmakers have so far not passed any regulations or rules around Missouri’s hemp-derived cannabis market. According to the Missouri Independent, Steven Busch, owner of Krey Distributing, a major seller of hemp-infused beverages, has been advocating for a new bill to do exactly that, to be introduced later this fall.
“I think the reluctance of most state legislatures is the fact they defer all these decisions to the FDA. They’re all waiting for the FDA to move.”
But Whaling argues there is a reason for states not wanting to regulate hemp products: They would be jumping ahead of the federal government. The Food and Drug Administration, which has the authority to regulate hemp-derived products, has made no progress on the issue, leaving hemp products, nationwide, in a legal “gray zone.”
“I think the reluctance of most state legislatures is the fact they defer all these decisions to the FDA,” Whaling said. “As you look at Missouri’s health department, they would defer to the FDA. We found it even with animal feed—[state] departments of agriculture and health do not want to advance regulations that are in conflict with federal law. They’re all waiting for the FDA to move. What everyone should do is focus on advancing FDA [regulations] so there are national standards, a better understanding and states can implement programs on their own based on that framework.”
Whaling added that there is an opportunity for the FDA and the hemp industry to work together on this issue. And he accepts that a future, regulated hemp market is likely to look very different from what it is now.
“I believe we need to advance research and work with the FDA on how these products are being brought to market,” he said. “I know the FDA wants to meet the industry where we are today, but that doesn’t mean a carte blanche sale of products in the marketplace; it will be looking at specific items, manufacturing processes, dosing and labeling. There are over 150 cannabinoids in the hemp plant—they need a framework that lets them address all these issues.”
Image by Elsa Olofsson used via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
In Missouri, state officials are orchestrating a quiet crackdown on stores that sell hemp products. It’s targeting “intoxicating” products—like smokeables … Read More