Hawaii House Hemp Hang 5

They’d have to get into the hemp control game at some point it was inveitable

SF Gate

The hemp industry is booming in Hawaii, selling intoxicating THC products at dozens of stores across the islands, including in tourist hot spots, but that could be coming to an end as lawmakers try to crack down on what they’re calling a “surge of illegal dispensary operators.”

A resolution introduced in Hawaii’s House of Representatives this session said there are “allegedly over eighty-four illegal dispensary operators” in Hawaii and “the number continues to grow exponentially,” while some lawmakers accuse law enforcement of not doing enough to shut the stores down.

“The surge of illegal dispensary operators selling cannabis labeled as hemp is a public health and safety epidemic,” the resolution said.

Lawmakers introduced a law this year that would crack down on these stores by empowering state agencies and local law enforcement to shut down the stores. The law would explicitly ban synthetic cannabinoids like delta-8 THC. The Hawaii State Senate’s Committee on Ways and Means voted unanimously this week to advance the measure.

Hawaii’s attempt at a hemp crackdown comes as the unregulated drugs seed controversy across the country. In 2018, Congress legalized hemp, which is the same cannabis plant as marijuana, but failed to write any regulations on the products. Hemp can be used to produce a wide variety of intoxicating drugs, including vapes, edibles and joints that contain THC, the most common intoxicant found in marijuana.

Toxicologists have warned that many of these synthetic cannabis drugs are produced in unregulated labs and pose serious health risks, while public health advocates have warned that minors can easily access hemp THC vapes sold at gas stations and online. Meanwhile, the sudden boom in hemp drugs has bewildered regulators across the country. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom unilaterally banned hemp THC drugs from being sold in California. That ban is set to expire later this year.

In Hawaii, authorities have said it’s not clear if these intoxicating drugs are even illegal. Jared K. Redulla, deputy director for law enforcement for Hawaii Department of Law Enforcement, said during a March state Senate hearing that the proposed hemp law makes it easier to enforce against hemp sellers by making it “clear what is legal and what is not.”