HARRISBURG — A state Senate committee amended a bill proposing the creation of a regulatory body to oversee marijuana in Pennsylvania to include new federal standards on hemp.
Members of the Law & Justice Committee voted 10-1 on Monday to amend Senate Bill 49. The proposal wasn’t voted back to the floor and remains with the committee.
According to the bill’s author, state Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, the amendments expand the state legislative proposal to narrow the definition of hemp and ban most intoxicating hemp-derived products, which emerged after the 2018 Farm Bill. Such products can be found in smoke shops and convenience stores that contain intoxicants, including synthetics or naturally produced, like Delta-8 THC, Delta-10 THC and THCA.
The updates were codified into federal law in November as part of a broader spending measure.
“As the federal government updates its definition of hemp, Pennsylvania needs to make sure our laws remain consistent and enforceable,” Laughlin said in a prepared statement. “Amending Senate Bill 49 to mirror these federal changes helps close the same loopholes that allowed intoxicating hemp products to flood the marketplace with little oversight.”
Laughlin’s bill proposes to create the Pennsylvania Cannabis Control Board, a regulatory arm that would oversee the commonwealth’s existing medical program and would have additional oversight should the General Assembly legalize marijuana for casual use, like alcohol.
Medical marijuana is presently regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
There are active proposals for legalization, including a House Democratic bill that would establish a system akin to the state liquor system. The bill cleared the House last year but was effectively rejected in the Senate when a Law & Justice Committee vote failed to advance it to the floor.
Laughlin is the committee’s majority chair. His Cannabis Control Board bill doesn’t propose legalization; however, its regulatory approach is considered a potentially supportive measure.
The amendments add definitions for “cannabis,” “hemp” and “industrial hemp,” banning cannabis from the definition of hemp and barring products intended for human consumption from industrial hemp.
