Senate-backed hemp bill targets THC market

THC is the acronym for tetrahydrocannabinol. That is the primary psychoactive compound in the cannabis plant, and specific chemical responsible for the intoxicating "high" associated with marijuana. THCA is the acronym for tetrahydrocannabinolic acid.

Passage was 37-6 in the Senate of the conference report July 2. The House of Representatives did not take up the measure before lawmakers adjourned. The bill is next eligible for House action on July 27.

“Dangerous and intoxicating hemp products are flooding our state,” Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a statement after the vote. He's president pro tempore of the chamber. “These products are advertised and marketed to children and are often deceptively labeled to trick consumers into thinking they’re safe. The result is that North Carolina has a de facto recreational marijuana marketplace. Once it becomes law, this bill will end that market.”

The delay comes after House Republicans raised concerns about the current agreement. House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, and chamber leaders are understood to be more interested in the bill’s age-verification component than in the broader hemp-product restrictions included in the Senate-approved conference report.

Supporters of stronger restrictions have argued that North Carolina’s current hemp laws allow intoxicating products to be sold widely with little oversight. Critics, including hemp businesses, have warned that a strict THC cap could wipe out products currently sold in breweries, bottle shops, smoke shops, convenience stores, and hemp retailers.

The conference report would define a “prohibited finished hemp-derived consumable product” as a final-form hemp product intended for ingestion or inhalation that contains more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container or contains synthetic or chemically converted cannabinoids.

The conference report would also make it unlawful to knowingly sell or deliver hemp-derived consumable products to anyone under 21. It would prohibit people under 21 from possessing those products and create penalties for underage sales and possession.

Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, who explained the conference report on the Senate floor, said the bill is aimed at closing a loophole that has allowed intoxicating hemp products to spread across North Carolina.

“What we have found for states that haven’t taken action like ours at this point yet is that you’ve essentially legalized recreational marijuana,” Lee said.

Lee told senators that products sold in North Carolina stores often do not clearly disclose their contents. He said he recently went into a dispensary and saw products with warnings that they “may contain unidentified substances that are harmful or toxic.”

He also said the bill is needed to protect children from products that resemble candy and are sold in gas stations and other retail locations.

“These products are being sold to kids,” Lee said. “It’s changing their brains through neuroscience, and they’re becoming addicted to a variety of different substances and don’t even know it.”

Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, said lawmakers have tried for years to regulate the products without success.

“Are we going to affect businesses? Yes, we’re going to affect 12,000 drug dealers’ businesses,” Rabon said on the Senate floor. “They’re selling it to low-income, to people who are down on their luck, the normal people who buy drugs. But they’re also selling it to teenagers and sub-teenagers, and anyone that they can prey upon.”