RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Triangle hemp business owners are voicing concerns over new legislation that would create sweeping new regulations over the industry that’s continued to grow since 2018.
“We have been providing CBD and THC products to the public responsibly,” said Eric Stahl, President of Modern Apotheca in North Raleigh.
Stahl owns the business and the adjacent cafe with his wife.
“This is my life savings,” Stahl said. “I took every bit of money I ever saved, and my wife ever saved, and we dumped it into this.”
He’s worried new legislation could crush his and similar businesses.
“There are people, including some of our lawyers that we work with who read this new House bill as a way to make almost every product on my shelf illegal,” he said.
He’s talking about House Bill 328, which would create sweeping new safety regulations statewide, including banning the sale of hemp-derived THC products to people under 21 and creating testing requirements.
But the bill, as written, would seemingly prohibit any consumable hemp-derived products except Delta 9 THC.
The bill defines a prohibited hemp-derived product as, “A hemp product that is a finished good intended for human ingestion or inhalation that contains concentrations of hemp-derived cannabinoids other than delta-9 THC.”
Stahl is concerned that would mean products like CBD gummies, Delta 8 and THCA would be banned.
“You already have adult-use hemp products, over-the-counter hemp products. What you need to do is regulate the market that you created in 2018,” he said.
Stahl says he’s in favor of increasing state regulations, including ALE enforcement, which is included in this bill.
“We want to serve the public, we don’t want to get around any licensure,” Stahl said.
But he, and other business owners, would like to see the General Assembly advance a different bill, Senate Bill 265, instead.
“Senate Bill 265 clearly defines hemp and hemp-derived cannabinoids in a way that the products that are currently legal in North Carolina are covered,” he explained.
That legislation was introduced in March but hasn’t advanced out of committee. House Bill 328, meanwhile, passed the Senate on Thursday and now moves back to the House, two months after it initially passed there.
“I think there was a desire to get something done in the space in some respects, eliminate the access that currently exists and to begin the process of regulating in the space,” said Phil Berger, Senate President Pro Tempore.
The legislation also bans kratom, adding it as a Schedule VI substance.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel