JEFFERSON CITY — Senate legislation seeking to restrict the sale of hemp-derived products was stalled by Sen. Karla May, D-St. Louis on Tuesday.
May held the floor into the evening in defense of the hemp industry, which claims it would be severely curtailed by the proposed Intoxicating Cannabinoid Control Act.
SB 904, sponsored by Sen. David Gregory, R-St. Louis, would allow intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products to be sold only by licensed marijuana dispensaries, eliminating sales by CBD stores, health and wellness retailers, convenience shops and others.
The bill mirrors new federal legislation taking effect in November, which changes the legal limit in hemp to 0.3% of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive compound in cannabis.
Intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoid products, which are defined as containing greater than 0.3% of THC, will now be classified as marijuana and subject to the same regulations enforced by the Department of Health and Senior Services under the Missouri Constitution.
Gregory said that the legislation is motivated by safety, regulating the contents of cannabis products and preventing cannabis products from being sold to minors.
“These products, we don’t know what’s in them,” Gregory said. “There’s been tests already begun where we’re finding things like paint thinner. We have no idea where they’re coming from.”
May said that she and legitimate hemp retailers would be supportive of regulations in the name of safety. She has an alternate bill filed that would create provisions regulating intoxicating cannabinoid sales for the safety of minors.
However, she said that Gregory's bill is a result of efforts by the marijuana industry to monopolize the market for cannabis products.
“I’m all for regulation,” May said. “I’m just not for eliminating an industry for the benefit of another industry, creating an unfair business advantage in law that they can capitalize off of.”
She pointed to the emergency clause, which would put the law into immediate effect if passed, as evidence of the marijuana industry’s malintent.
“You’re trying to basically cut these businesses off without any remedy or time frame for them to reset and redo," May said. "In the end, it’s about big lobbies and money.”
May proposed an amendment in February that would deter the law from being implemented until Nov. 12, the same date that the federal law will go into effect. Additionally, it would place a contingent expiration on the law in the event that the federal government makes revisions to its new hemp classifications before they go into effect.
The amendment was struck down on the floor Tuesday in a standing division vote of 6-14.
May proposed a second amendment that would push back the law’s implementation date to May 2027, with the same contingent expiration that she proposed previously. The amendment was met with resistance by various senators on the floor.
Debate continued into the evening as May sought support for her amendment through conversations with various senators.