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12th December 2024
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Global business and regulatory news covering the cannabis industry
Daily regulatory updates of legal changes in the cannabis sector, including monthly compilations
19th November 2024
- US - Federal: Senate Democrats on the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry have released a draft of the Farm Bill that would introduce changes to federal hemp laws and eliminate most intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid (IHDC) products. The bill proposes a change to how hemp is defined. Currently, hemp is federally legal if it contains no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC by dry weight. The new bill would revise this by requiring hemp to be tested for “total THC” content, which includes cannabinoids like delta-8 THC and tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), rather than only delta-9 THC. The draft bill introduces a definition for “industrial hemp”, which includes fibre, stalks, grain, oil, seeds and other components of the plant that “will not be used in the manufacturing or synthesis of natural or synthetic cannabinoid products”.
11th November 2024
- US - Ohio: Senate Bill (SB) 326, which would ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Ohio, has been introduced. SB 326 would define intoxicating hemp products as containing more than 0.5 mg of delta-9 THC per serving, 2 mg of delta-9 THC per package, or 0.5 mg of total non-delta-9 THC per package. The bill states that this act is an emergency measure “to protect Ohioans, especially Ohio’s youth, from untested, unregulated dangerous tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products”, and would therefore go into immediate effect.
16th October 2024
- Hungary: The government has notified via the EU TRIS notification system a bill that would include certain cannabinoids in the narcotics list, including hexahydrocannabihexol (HHCH), tetrahydrocannabutol (THCB), delta-8-THCP, delta-8-THCH and delta-9-THCH. The government banned HHC, hexahydrocannabinol acetate (HHCO) and hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHCP) in September 2023, while tetrahydrocannabidiol (H4-CBD or hydrogenated CBD) and tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP) were banned in May 2024. The end of the standstill period has not been set yet.
23rd September 2024
- Slovakia: President Peter Pellegrini has signed a bill to add HHC, hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHCP) and hexahydrocannabinol acetate (HHCO) to the list of narcotic substances, media reports. The amendment should take effect as of November 2024.
19th September 2024
- US - Missouri: The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) will not designate any more intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid (IHDC) products as adulterated, as ordered by a recent decree by the governor to ban the products. Governor Mike Parson issued an executive order in August to ban products containing IHDCs like delta-8 THC, but the Missouri Hemp Trade Association filed a lawsuit to stop enforcement actions against those products, press reports. Therefore, the DHSS will not embargo any more IHDC products for being adulterated going forward, and those products already embargoed will be released by the state attorney general’s office within 30 days.
26th August 2024
- US - Missouri: Missouri secretary of state Jay Ashcroft blocked governor Michael Parson’s emergency order banning unregulated hemp-derived intoxicating food products, saying that the proposed order did not meet legal requirements. Recreational and medical marijuana are both legal in Missouri, but the governor’s executive order was aimed at particular THC compounds that are not regulated, including delta-8. The order was supposed to take effect on 1st September, pending Ashcroft’s approval of the emergency rules, and now that will likely be delayed for at least six months, Parson said in a letter. Parson has said a ban on hemp-derived THC products is necessary because children have mistaken them for candy. He further said that he ordered the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control to resubmit the emergency rule on hemp-derived THC.
19th August 2024
- US - Wyoming: Wyoming’s ban on the sale of hemp products containing delta-8 THC or any synthetic substances will remain in place after a federal judge granted the state’s motion to dismiss the case. The lawsuit was brought by several hemp companies in the state claiming that Senate File 32 is preempted by the federal 2018 Farm Bill. The judge reiterated in his ruling that the plaintiffs did not prove the statute is unconstitutional, including claims the ban violates interstate commerce law. “The fact that the plaintiffs are unhappy with the substances (the ban) prohibits does not make the law vague,” judge Rankin said, according to local media. The plaintiffs have filed an appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
19th August 2024
- Slovakia: At a meeting in Brno (Czech Republic), the Slovak commissioner for children and the Czech defender of public rights discussed the need for greater protection of children and adolescents from addiction to substances such as HHC and HHCP (hexahydrocannabiphorol), media reports. Slovakia is looking for ways to address the issue. The bill amending the list of prohibited substances is late, so the Slovak commissioner is currently working on implementing a ban on the sale of foods containing HHC and HHCP.
1st July 2024
- US - New Jersey: Senate Bill (SB) 3235 has been passed by the legislature and now heads to the governor for final approval. SB 3235 would require a licence from the Cannabis Regulatory Commission or certain liquor licences to sell intoxicating hemp products and would ban cannabis products “not derived from naturally occurring biologically active chemical constituents”. The bill defines intoxicating hemp products as any hemp product with a total THC concentration greater than 0.5 mg per serving or 2.5 mg per package.
27th June 2024
- US - Nebraska: State attorney general Mike Hilgers announced that two settlements have been reached in lawsuits against vendors of delta-8 THC products in the state. Hilgers sued ten delta-8 vendors last year, claiming that the products they were selling were misleading to consumers and not properly labelled. According to the settlement, one vendor is shutting down while another agrees to no longer sell THC products, and the parties agreed to turn over remaining THC products for destruction. However, the vendors will face no financial sanctions as long as they do not breach the settlement agreement.
13th June 2024
- US - Massachusetts: Legislation aimed at enforcement against intoxicating hemp-derived products will not be addressed until 2025, press reports. Although Massachusetts authorities have issued interpretations that products containing hemp-derived cannabinoids like delta-8 THC are illegal, they say that enforcement must be carried out by local health boards, which in turn say they do not have the resources to do so.
10th June 2024
- US - Florida: Governor Ron DeSantis has vetoed Senate Bill (SB) 1698, which would have prohibited most products containing intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids (IHDCs) like delta-8 THC and limited the amount of total delta-9 THC in hemp products. In explaining the veto, DeSantis warned against the effect that the bill would have had on small businesses and encouraged the legislature to focus on regulating hemp products in the areas of quality control, packaging and retail sales instead of banning products.
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Comprehensive legal reports outlining how the sector is regulated, interpretation of the laws and relevant bodies
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Up-to-date information and insights on brands, pricing and retail across selected markets
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Regularly updated global regulations currently in place, compiled into easy-to-read maps and tables
