Congress must close the dangerous hemp-derived THC loophole

Trent Woloveck (courtesy photo) (This is a contributed guest column.To be considered as an MJBizDaily guest columnist, please submit your request here.) As someone who has been fighting to normalize and regulate cannabis for 15 years, I can’t leave astounding falsities about intoxicating and synthetic hemp-derived products unaddressed.

This is the most important topic for everyone involved with the regulated cannabis industry.Last week’s MJBizDaily guest column, “The Great Farm Bill bait and switch,” is a perfect demonstration of the deceit the hemp industry is engaging in while their irresponsible business practices threaten children, communities and the future of legal cannabis in America.

ADVERTISEMENT On one point, however, I am in full agreement with Lou Rinaldi.  There is a “strange irony” playing out in Washinton D.C.but let’s be honest about what it is.

Because of the 2018 Farm Bill, untested, unsafe and unnatural hemp products continue to flood the market.The hemp-derived THC public health emergency When faced with documentation of countless adverse reactions, massive growth in pediatric cannabinoid exposures, and at least one death tied to a hemp-derived delta-8 THC product, law enforcement and elected officials are finally taking seriously the public health and safety emergency.

And yet hazards remain on full daily display at gas stations, convenience stores and smoke/vape shops across the country.Now, as lawmakers in Congress are finally pushing to close the unintended loophole that gave rise to this emergency, the hemp industry is crying foul.

Advocates point to the devastating impact closing the loophole will have on numerous individuals and small businesses, such as the estimated $5.5 billion hemp sector that’s arisen in Texas alone.But in doing so, they simply cast aside the overwhelming evidence of serious consumer safety problems as “manufactured panic.�...