BY RUTH HILL R.N.
In September 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom bypassed the California legislature and arbitrarily outlawed any product with detectable levels of THC except those sold at state-licensed dispensaries. Of course, no one wants dangerous and intoxicating hemp products available to children in retail stores. With one pen stroke, Newsom used fear to arbitrarily eliminate an estimated $11.5 million in sales and approximately $410,000 in state taxes, creating hundreds of lost jobs statewide.
In the two months since the rules went into effect, companies across California and beyond have laid off employees and halted operations in the state. He upended a market for hemp and CBD products that some economic research firms estimate generates more than $1 billion in annual revenues. Manufacturers have been forced to destroy thousands of products that are now illegal.
Many businesses carrying these products only learn about this ban when an ABC agent arrives at their company. No notices were sent out. According to ABC data, from Sept. 24 to Nov. 10, state regulators seized 5,318 illegal hemp products from 102 different stores. Within days of the ban taking effect, an industry group called the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, and several companies filed suit against the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). They argued that the agency did not successfully demonstrate an immediate crisis necessitating emergency regulations.
By law, the emergency regulation will expire in March 2025 unless CDHP issues a permanent regulation. California NORML plans to ask CDPH to modify the regulation or call on the legislature to do so.
California NORML told CDPH. “We have heard many complaints from knowledgeable medical cannabis patients and physicians who rely on whole plant CBD hemp extracts banned under this regulation.” The hypocrisy and discrimination of this law are evident when alcohol is sold on every corner in CA. Hemp companies argue that Newsom has cast too wide a net. The ban sweeps up innocuous products, such as drinks containing “microdoses” with just a few milligrams of THC and items that contain mostly CBD, a non-intoxicating cousin of THC popular with pain sufferers and cancer patients.
Newsom forced children with seizures, along with thousands of seniors, to purchase their medical hemp products from illegal online stores surreptitiously. “This proposal will cause serious detrimental effects to thousands of vulnerable children in California,” warned Dr. Bonni Goldstein, who treats many pediatric patients with serious conditions. “If they lose access to their safe and effective hemp treatment, they face the risk of life-threatening seizures or a resurgence of other severe symptoms.”
In October 2024, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Stephen Goorvitch denied the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order request that would have halted enforcement of the order. The plaintiffs subsequently dropped their lawsuit. Ajay Narain, chief executive of Beacon Beverages, said the Bay Area-based company has experienced a 35% drop in revenue and laid off four employees since the regulations were enacted. “The loss has been significant and demoralizing,” he said in an email. “It’s just baffling to me that instead of doing the obvious – require consumers to be 21+ to purchase Hemp drinks and enforce responsible packaging that doesn’t appeal to children – Newsom just outright banned it.”
“We’re working on a comprehensive bill to present to the governor and the state legislature to benefit both cannabis and hemp, to up the taxable revenue to the state, make sure we follow compliance standards on both and protect the industry at the same time and protect the consumer,” said Jonathan Black, CEO of Danville-based industry Cheech and Chong’s Global Holdings, whose company is among those suing over the state ban.
Jim Higdon, a member of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable and co-founder of Louisville, Ky.-based Cornbread Hemp, said that until the law changes, California should prioritize stamping out illegal dispensaries and smoke shops selling illicit high-THC products and fake psilocybin mushroom chocolate bars. Write to your State Senator and State Representative and demand they fix this issue by treating it like alcohol: require consumers to be 21+ to buy Hemp drinks and products.
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