Virginia lawmakers to weigh Youngkin’s changes to hemp bill

WTOP

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed a rewrite of a bill that aimed to ban the recreational sales of intoxicating hemp-derived products, seeking to ensure the continued availability of certain therapeutic CBD formulations.

Youngkin’s proposed changes came after hemp industry advocates and parents of patients who benefit from nonintoxicating CBD products pressed him to reconsider the impact of the legislation as it recently passed. Lawmakers will weigh the Republican governor’s proposals to amend that measure and dozens of other bills during a one-day session Wednesday.

Youngkin’s substitute hemp bill continues “his efforts to crack down on dangerous THC intoxicants, including synthetic products” such as delta-8 THC, a psychoactive chemical often synthesized from hemp-derived CBD, his spokeswoman Macaulay Porter said in a statement, noting it contains “a narrowly tailored exemption” for therapeutic CBD products.

“Governor Youngkin’s substitute takes into account these critically necessary products while going even further to clear store shelves of illegal products responsible for sending children to the hospital,” Porter said.

For over a year, Virginia lawmakers have been grappling with how to best regulate sales of vapes, edibles and other products with delta-8, which have soared in popularity nationwide, filling shelves at convenience stores and smoke shops even in places where marijuana isn’t legal. It’s an issue other states are wrestling with, too.

Virginia lawmakers to weigh Youngkin’s changes to hemp bill

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