“I would simply echo that the best regulation is the elimination of this illegitimate industry.”
By Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator
Louisiana lawmakers are one step away from dismantling a consumable hemp industry they created two years ago after unwittingly legalizing products that can get people high.
Senate Bill 237, sponsored by Sen. Thomas Pressly (R-Shreveport), cleared the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice in a 7–5 vote Tuesday. The bill, for which 67 lobbyists and organizations filled out cards in opposition, would make it illegal to manufacture or sell products that contain any amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound in cannabis called THC for short, unless they are licensed medical marijuana products.
In 2022, the Louisiana Legislature legalized hemp edibles with limited amounts of delta-9 THC for adults 21 and older. Some lawmakers say they only voted for it based on then-House Speaker Clay Schexnayder’s claim that it would take “tractor-trailer loads” of the stuff to get high. At the time, the Republican speaker was repeating a misleading, though perhaps technically accurate, statement a hemp farmer had made during a committee hearing.
Related to the marijuana plant, hemp is a type of cannabis with very low levels of THC.
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
