A move last week from California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a tidal wave through the hemp and cannabis industries and generated numerous headlines around the nation.
Newsom announced a set of emergency regulations that would ban the sale of hemp-derived products containing any amount of THC. As California is the most populous state in the nation, regulations passed in the Golden State often become industry standards nationwide.
Which begs the question, could these policies make their way north to the Evergreen State? The answer is, they already have. Washington adopted nearly identical regulations in 2023.
The impetus behind Newsom's proposed action, and that of Washington before him, stems from the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp at the federal level.
The 2018 Farm Bill defined hemp as cannabis plants containing less than 0.3% THC by dry weight. Anything above that threshold would be considered cannabis, and thus illegal at the federal level.
Those rules say nothing about other cannabinoids like CBD, however, which is why in the years since, CBD products from supplements to seltzers and everything in between have been stocked on grocery store shelves.
Legal hemp, as the Farm Bill defines it, can only contain a negligible amount of THC. However, other cannabinoids produced by the plant can then be converted into intoxicating analogs of the THC found in cannabis.
These hemp-derived THC products began appearing on shelves at stores not licensed to sell recreational cannabis and have also been available to order online.
Washington's action in 2023, under Senate Bill 5367, defined all products meant for human consumption that contain detectable amounts of THC as "cannabis products," regardless of whether or not they were originally derived from cannabis or hemp.
Under the 2023 regulations, these cannabis products could only be sold in accordance with the rules regulating the state's legal cannabis market — from the consumer's perspective, that means they can only be purchased at a licensed dispensary.
The emergency regulations announced last week by Gov. Newsom in California mirror the changes made by Washington last year, but unsurprisingly the reaction to California's action has been far greater.
There weren't headlines about damage to a billion-dollar industry or reactions from the company of renowned stoners Cheech and Chong when Washington went down this path a year ago. But don't be fooled by the fervor in the news in recent days. Washington won't be copying California. It's the other way around. ♦
