A bill revamping hemp regulations is running out of time in the House.
As of this writing Saturday, Rep. Tommy Gregory's measure (HB 1613) is languishing on the Second Reading Calendar, presenting a stark contrast to the Senate, where a companion bill was unanimously approved last month.
Neither the House Speaker's Office nor the House bill sponsor have declared it dead or responded to questions about it from this outlet.
Sen. Colleen Burton's bill (SB 1698), which the House could take up if Speaker Paul Renner decided to make it happen before Sine Die, proposes a ban on currently commercially available and federally legal products, along with a cap on delta-9 THC, which could negatively affect the 487 growers and roughly 10,000 retail outlets in the state.
Burton's bill enjoys the support of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).
The bill would ban cannabinoids that serve as functional alternatives to delta-9 THC, the euphoria-inducing compound commodified by the state's medical marijuana program.
The banned substances would include delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol, delta-10-tetrahydrocannabinol, hexahydrocannabinol, tetrahydrocannabinol acetate, tetrahydrocannabiphorol and tetrahydrocannabivarin.
It revises the definition of "hemp" to "outline that hemp extract may not exceed 0.3% total delta-9-THC concentration on a wet-weight basis or exceed 2 milligrams per serving and 10 milligrams per container on a wet-weight basis."
That sets a more rigorous standard than the federal one established in the 2018 Farm Bill that created initial parameters for the then-fledgling industry without arbitrary packaging limits. It would also impact full-spectrum CBD products, which meet the federal requirements and include minor cannabinoids as well.
The bill, if it passes, is a boon to the medical marijuana industry, as it removes competition for market share the hemp sector provides with THC, HHC and other cannabinoids that interact with CB1 receptors.
However, time is running out, and the industry may get a reprieve from legislation that would have forced businesses to cut product lines and cut Florida jobs.
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