Florida Senate Panel Takes Up Bill To Restrict Hemp Products

“Liquor stores and restaurants that would like to sell these products, they have come to us and asked us to provide some regulations.”

By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix

For the third year in a row, Florida lawmakers have begun debating a proposal to regulate THC-derived hemp products, which have evolved into a multibillion-dollar industry in the Sunshine State.

In addition to banning Delta-8 products and restricting the amount of Delta-9 THC levels in hemp products to 5 milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams per package, the latest proposal from Polk County Republican Sen. Colleen Burton (SB 438) includes for the first time regulations on hemp-infused drinks, which have surged in popularity over the past year.

The proposal would restrict the amount of THC per bottle or cans to no more than 5 milligrams. It would ban those drinks being sold at any locations other than ones already licensed to sell alcoholic beverages, adding additional prohibitions and requirements.

“Liquor stores and restaurants that would like to sell these products, they have come to us and asked us to provide some regulations so that they know that the products that they are selling have gone through the rigor of the testing and will all be held to the same standards,” Burton said in introducing the bill to the Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday afternoon.

But that provision received some pushback.

“Requiring us to carry a liquor license when we’re a non-alcoholic bottle shop kind of goes against what we built,” said Caitlyn Smith, co-owner of Herban Flow in St. Petersburg, which bills itself as Florida’s first non-alcoholic bottle shop.

Her husband and co-founder, Michael Smith, said that he is five years’ sober and the last thing that he wants is for his store to be regulated as a liquor store when it isn’t one.

“It’s not about how high you can get. That THC drink is really just about having a nice social buzz and being able to be part of the party again,” he said, adding that the provision is “truly just killing small business.”

‘They look like you and they look like me’

However, those in the liquor industry support the proposal to regulate hemp-infused drinks like alcohol.

Jared Ross with the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association said that many but not all of his members have begun selling hemp-infused drinks. “We have a system in place with alcohol that takes public safety into consideration, and…we would like to see this treated similar to alcohol, and that’s why.”

Chas Bailes is CEO of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, the largest liquor retailer in Florida, and supports Burton’s bill. THC infused drinks are selling well everywhere in Florida, he said, and the demographic is everyone. “They look like you and they look like me,” he said.

Bailes added that while he hasn’t consumed any of these drinks himself, he believes they affect people differently. “Two milligrams for me might mean five milligrams for you, ” he said. “You can’t equate it to ounces of alcohol.”

Scott Ashley, president of Wine & Spirits Distributors of Florida, said the only missing component of the bill is who pays for the regulation of hemp-derived drinks. “The alcohol excise tax is about $7.50 per gallon of spirits,” he said. There has never been an untaxed recreational intoxicating beverage in the state of Florida in its history.”

Sen. Burton’s bill would remove the existing requirement that hemp and hemp extract products be tested by an independent laboratory; instead, they would be tested at a certified medical marijuana testing lab (CMTL). The tests will determine whether the product meets the definition of hemp; that its labeling is accurate; and that the product is free from contaminants.

Testimony heard earlier this month in a special House committee assigned to learn more about the hemp business in Florida revealed that in fact many of the products tested by one CMTL in Lakeland found that the majority of products tested were much higher in THC concentration than the 0.3 percent federal limit for Delta-9 and contained large amounts of contaminants.

That same lab owner, George Fernandez from Modern Canna Labs, repeated those statistics on Monday.

“This is marijuana masquerading as hemp,” he declared.

Restricted advertising

The bill would prohibit businesses and food establishments permitted to sell hemp or hemp extract from advertising in a manner visible to members of the public from any street, sidewalk, park, or other public place. Burton said that was something her co-sponsor, Jacksonville Democrat Tracie Davis, wanted to insert into the proposal.

This is Sen. Burton’s third year in a row leading an effort to regulate hemp products, which have exploded into the marketplace since the 2018 federal farm bill legalized them. The law didn’t impose any regulations, so states have been passing their own.

In Georgia last week, lawmakers approved a ban on THC-infused drinks. Another measure would limit hemp products like Delta-8, although neither measure has made its way to the governor’s office yet.

The Florida Legislature passed hemp regulations last year, but Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed the bill. In his veto letter, he said that while “commendable,” the measure would have imposed “debilitating regulatory burdens on small businesses and almost certainly fail to achieve its purposes.”

Burton’s bill is being fast-tracked this session, however. It has only one more stop scheduled in committee before hitting the Senate floor, after being passed unanimously in Agriculture Committee on Monday afternoon.

The most compatible bill filed in the House to her bill is HB 1597 by Fort Pierce Republican Dana Trabulsky. It has not yet gone before any committees yet.

This story was first published by Florida Phoenix.