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Experts tell committee: intoxicating hemp products functionally mirror marijuana; bill must target synthesis and safety
Summary
Witnesses at a third hearing on House Bill 198 told the House Judiciary Committee that many intoxicating 'hemp' products are chemically equivalent to marijuana or engineered synthetics and argued for stricter testing, labeling and enforcement. Industry witnesses backed a separate, more restrictive beverage framework under Senate Bill 86.
House Bill 198 — a measure to regulate intoxicating products derived from hemp — drew technical testimony from trade groups, public‑health advocates and industry operators who told the House Judiciary Committee the bill must clearly distinguish agricultural hemp from chemically altered intoxicants.
Corey Harris, a principal at Washington lobby firm The Vogel Group and representative of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp (ATTACH), told the committee the 2018 federal Farm Bill created an unintended loophole. "Hemp intoxicants are functionally equivalent to marijuana," Harris said. "Simply put, hemp intoxicants are marijuana." Harris explained that the Farm Bill definition — hemp with less than 0.3% delta‑9 THC on a dry‑weight basis — did not anticipate modern extraction, conversion and synthesis techniques, or…
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