Hemp sellers push back on delta-8 ban as lawmakers tackle unregulated cannabinoids

Hemp entrepreneurs are asking Illinois legislators to take a mellower approach to regulating delta-8 THC and other intoxicating, weedlike substances derived from the plant that have proliferated at smoke shops and convenience stores nationwide thanks to a loophole in federal law.

Pushing back against proposed legislation that would effectively ban them, purveyors of the pot-adjacent products rallied this week in Springfield behind a bill sponsored by West Side state Rep. La Shawn Ford, who wants to keep them out of the hands of teenagers “without starting a new war on drugs in Illinois.”

“While we want strong regulations, we don't want to kill a multibillion-dollar industry in Illinois that employs thousands of people throughout our state,” the Chicago Democrat said Tuesday alongside hemp entrepreneurs at the Illinois State Capitol. “The dangerous war on drugs showed us that prohibition doesn't work, and Illinois should reject going backward by banning this product automatically.”

Ford’s bill would limit sales to people 21 or older, prohibit name-brand lookalike packaging and require manufacturers to undergo product testing to obtain $500 licenses. Products would be taxed 10% at wholesale and 10% retail.

That stands in opposition to a bill introduced last month by state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Hillside, which would halt sales of mind-altering, hemp-derived products pending a lengthy evaluation to set consumer safety standards.

“We are working diligently to pass a bill that protects consumers, helps our cannabis industry flourish, keeps the promise to our social equity communities, and doesn’t stifle reputable hemp business establishments,” Lightford, the Senate majority leader, said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate, as well as hemp and cannabis industry leaders, to put forth a measure that reaches those common goals.”

While Lightford’s backers in the state-regulated cannabis industry say a “pause” on sales is a common-sense measure to bring in much-needed oversight, backers of Ford’s bill argue a ban would also criminalize nonintoxicating CBD products — and box out budding entrepreneurs from the booming industry.

That’s the cannabinoid conundrum facing officials nationwide in the wake of the federal Farm Bill of 2018, which legalized the sale of hemp derivatives but banned products with more than a minuscule amount of delta-9 THC, the component in weed that makes people feel high.

The federal law didn’t account for other psychoactive compounds that can be extracted from the plant, like delta-8.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has since labeled such hemp-derived products as controlled substances. But that has done little to quell a market easily accessed by minors at shops across the nation, where the products are often packaged to resemble well-known snacks (think “Trips Ahoy” instead of “Chips Ahoy”).

“It does pose a threat to children. It confuses the two, and it can cause problems for consumers of all ages,” Tiffany Chappell Ingram, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, said at a news conference last month in support of Lightford’s bill. “There's no guarantee what's in the package. There's no guarantee what's in the product, and our legislation seeks to address that.”

Asked about the diverging approach in Ford’s bill, Ingram said in a statement: “We are glad the hemp industry agrees action is needed to rein in the proliferation of unregulated Delta-8 product. ... We look forward to working with legislators to find a path forward that empowers consumers, protects minors and ensures the state’s adult-use cannabis law lives up to its full promise, including uplifting social equity license holders and communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.”

The state’s tightly regulated legal weed industry has seen a slow rollout of licenses for entrepreneurs from minority groups who were supposed to be prioritized in the system when it launched in 2020.

Rockford businessman Lincoln Bias said he received a social equity designation from the state but has yet to receive a license to sell marijuana.

Meanwhile, “Hemp has allowed me a way into the market. Hemp has allowed me a way to support my community,” Bias said in support of Ford’s bill.

Charles Wu, who sells hemp products at Chicago-area Chi’Tiva locations, said while he and other entrepreneurs have long called for cannabinoid regulations, powerful cannabis companies are trying to elbow them out of the market.

“Our legislation says, ‘Everyone here can play, and everyone in cannabis can also play.’ Their legislation says, ‘You guys have to all disappear, and then we get to play,'” Wu said.

Sources close to Springfield negotiations said a new bill could emerge as legislators continue hashing out the issue through the end of the spring session, which runs through May.

Spokespeople for Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon said they haven’t taken positions on a potential ban.

Second Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins introduced a City Council ordinance last summer to crack down on delta-8 sales in Chicago, but that proposal is still sitting in committee.