Bobby Hurst: Keep intoxicating hemp products away from children
By Bobby Hurst
As a former city councilor in Fayetteville, I know keeping communities safe never really ends. There is always work to be done, legislation to improve, and new concerns to address. Over the past several years, one of those threats has been the spread of intoxicating hemp products sold at gas stations and convenience stores in candy-like packaging with no age requirements for purchase.
A lot of people see these products in stores but still do not realize what they actually are. They are not CBD or other wellness products approved for sleep or pain. They contain hemp-derived delta-8 THC, a cannabinoid similar to the delta-9 THC found in marijuana. Delta-8 has not been tested for safety or approved by the FDA for any use and is a largely unregulated product. More and more, these products contain a growing list of synthetic cannabinoids, which are produced in labs with THC levels more potent than their naturally occurring counterparts.
Independent testing has turned up pesticides, heavy metals, industrial solvents and mold in products pulled directly off store shelves. One investigation even found that 95 percent of tested hemp products contained chemically synthesized compounds.
What is worse is there is no federal age restriction for purchasing these products. A seventh grader with a few dollars had the same access as an adult. And you can imagine, with bright color packaging, cartoon fonts and candy-like logos, exactly who these predatory substances were being marketed to. Poison control centers across the country saw exposure cases among children climb, and emergency rooms started seeing patients who had no idea what they had taken.
If this sounds dangerous, that is because it is, and it has gone unregulated through a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill. Meant to expand hemp production for agricultural and textile purposes, this federal legislation created a gray market of intoxicating products with no regulation. The reality is that children are accidentally purchasing or ingesting these products and ending up in the hospital.
Here in North Carolina, we have seen a serious rise in accidental exposures, especially among children under 13. NC Poison Control has warned parents about these products specifically because of their deceptive packaging.
Thankfully, Congress finally closed that loophole last November. The provision set a meaningful THC limit for hemp products and banned the potent synthetic cannabinoids that have been imported, in some cases from Chinese chemical suppliers, and sold at American gas stations under the label “hemp.”
For those who still believe this market should exist in some form, the better answer is the one states have already figured out for marijuana. They have utilized age verification, lab testing and licensed retailers instead of gas station counters to keep usage safe and out of kids’ hands. States like Connecticut and Colorado have shown that a regulated market is possible. The federal loophole produced the opposite: an unregulated market that treated children and adults the same, and held no one accountable for what was actually in the product.
Congress got this one right in November. I ask the Republican members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation who supported that effort to stand by it. North Carolina boasts several strong conservatives in its congressional delegation, including NRCC Chair Richard Hudson and former N.C. Speaker of the House Tim Moore. The right answer is to keep the loophole closed and let states decide if or how these products are sold in their communities.
