A crackdown on psychoactive compounds in hemp is headed back to the Senate after the House passed an amended version, despite Republicans joining Democrats in opposition during a surprisingly close 64-48 vote.
Sen. Colleen Burton's bill (SB 1698) was changed on the previous day's House Special Order Calendar to increase the permissible amount of delta-9 THC in hemp extract to 5 mg a serving or 50 mg a container, up from 2 mg and 10 mg limits in the bill as it was passed by the Senate.
Otherwise the bill is substantially the same, banning delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol, delta-10-tetrahydrocannabinol, hexahydrocannabinol, tetrahydrocannabinol acetate, tetrahydrocannabiphorol and tetrahydrocannabivarin.
The crackdown on these alternative cannabinoids eliminates from the Florida retail hemp market these compounds that target the CB1 receptors in the human endocannabinoid system.
This means that people who seek that kind of relief must either source it through the medical marijuana market, one with a high price of participation due to the cost of regular doctor's visits that are perfunctory in most cases and the state licensure scheme, or by buying federally legal compounds via mail order.
Ahead of the vote, Democrats argued against the legislation.
Rep. Susan Valdez likened the bill to "big government coming in to take a business from the little guy and give it to somebody else," like might have happened in Fidel Castro's Cuba.
Rep. Robin Bartleman offered similar warnings, noting that the law would restrict access to Charlotte's Web products from hemp stores, and suggesting that the state is picking a "winner" economically with this bill.
Rep. Marie Woodson said the bill is "really, really hurting Floridians," driving people who currently participate in the hemp market to "drug dealers so they can function normally."
Rep. Angie Nixon said the "hypocritical" bill would "kill 104,000 jobs" in the hemp industry, imposing harms on 6,000 businesses.
She added that Medicaid expansion would stop people from having to "resort to hemp and all that other stuff," demonstrating a seeming faith in patent medicine with those remarks.
Supporting the bill, GOP Rep. Joel Rudman made a reference to "Sweet Leaf" by Black Sabbath and the "THC Groove" by the Bullet Boys to demonstrate cultural literacy before saying the bill ultimately was about "drugs." He noted that FDA legality doesn't mean that hemp's byproducts are "safe," saying that the same agency approved COVID-19 shots. He also wondered why "patients" didn't trust the "regulated system" set up by the state, embracing "self-medication" instead.
House sponsor GOP Rep. Tommy Gregory said in close that hemp advocates sold the state a "bill of goods," masking this "psychoactive substance" under a move to pursue "industrial hemp."
He urged disappointed hemp consumers to "do the right thing and stop using drugs," likening the substance to opium, and saying "today's a day of reckoning" for alternative cannabinoids legal in most other states due to federal law.
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