Magnolia Tribune reports
- Products tested show varying rates of CBD and THC that do not match labeling.
The Mississippi Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee intends to amend the House’s legislation that would require testing of hemp products intended for human consumption to ensure such products meet THC limits by inserting language from a dead Senate bill.
On Wednesday, Committee Chairman Senator Hob Bryan (D) indicated that the intent is to reintroduce SB 2706 through a strike-all amendment to HB 1502, essentially reviving the Senate bill after it did not meet the committee deadline and killing the House bill. That House bill passed by a vote of 82-27 last week.
READ MORE: Legislation to test hemp products passes Mississippi House
While both bills have similar goals, the Senate’s version includes broader restrictions. However, State Rep. Lee Yancey (R), author of HB 1502, said both measures seek to ensure that the finished hemp product is capped at a 0.3 percent THC level, closing an existing loophole producers are utilizing to create intoxicating products.
Current law states hemp can only have a THC level of 0.3 percent at harvest, allowing those products to be adulterated later in the process before reaching store shelves. The proposed bills seek to end that practice by ensuring the finished products’ THC levels are no higher than 0.3 percent through mandated testing.
During the Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, members heard from health officials as well as representatives from retail stores.
Hemp products have become popular with consumers across the nation after the passing of the Farm Bill in 2018. Testing has shown products labeled as having low percentages of THC contain much higher levels than advertised. This is due to improper labeling or through the introduction of synthetic cannabinoids added after harvesting.
“We’re not the only state that has this problem, by the way, it’s nationwide, really,” Dr. Robert Welch with the National Center for Cannabis Research said.
THC is not the only cause for concern. Levels of CBD are also being falsely advertised.
Welch said that in 2020, DEA agents seized about 25 hemp-based products and conducted testing. In that operation, of the 25 products seized from convenience stores and vape shops, 22 had measurable amounts of CBD.
“Which means three of them had no CBD in them,” Welch described, saying the levels of CBD in those products ranged from 0.02 to 786 milligrams.
“That’s just to point out the variability of what these people are getting,” Welch added.
A study of the products seized in 2020 reviewed the levels of intoxicating THC and whether synthetic compounds could be found within those products. Dr. Welch told senators that testing found at least one product had 45 percent THC, even though it was advertised as only having CBD.
Of the synthetic compounds that can be found in the products, Delta 8 appears to be most common, derived from the manipulation of acids. Products with Delta 8 have been shown to cause a variety of side effects in consumers, including anxiety, elevated heart rate, vomiting, dizziness, loss of consciousness, tremors, severe paranoia and hallucinations.
Another concern is the impurities added to the products that further exacerbate the negative effects.
Read more at
Senate looks to amend House’s hemp legislation, reviving their version of the measure
