Heated testimony as committee advances bill to regulate THC consumables and add criminal penalties for unregulated sales

The Senate Judiciary C committee voted to report House Bill 12 with amendments after more than an hour of testimony that split public-health advocates and district attorneys on one side and licensed hemp businesses and industry groups on the other.

Representative Schlegel, the House sponsor, said HB 12 aligns regulated THC consumable hemp products with existing alcohol and marijuana laws by establishing penalties for selling regulated THC to minors and treating unregulated THC hemp sales consistently with laws governing unauthorized marijuana distribution. Schlegel told the committee she removed a proposed "good faith" provision and instead offered a house-floor amendment creating an affirmative defense: if a processor, wholesaler, or retailer had applied to renew a permit and the renewal was under agency review for no more than 45 days, that permit lapse would be an affirmative defense to prosecution for violations tied solely to the expired permit.

Will Hall, director of public policy for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, testified in support, urging stronger data collection of THC adverse events and calling the measure a set of necessary guardrails. He told the committee that emergency department reports and national surveys indicate high youth marijuana use in states with legal marijuana, and he urged LDH (Louisiana Department of Health) to collect THC-related adverse-event data.

Industry witnesses said they support age-verification penalties but strongly opposed felony-level criminal penalties for licensed, compliant businesses. Eric Becker, co-founder of Basin Street Beverages, said the state—s regulatory program enabled his business and that sudden administrative delisting of approved products last January created untenable legal risk for compliant businesses. Margaret Wilkinson, owner of RadDad Alternative, said the bill as drafted threatened small business owners— liberty and livelihoods. Several industry witnesses described testing variability and enforcement timing that could leave compliant products vulnerable: Blaine Jennings of Virgin Hemp Farms said labs have an uncertainty margin (test variance) and gave the committee an example where a product that tests at 4.98 mg per serving could be measured at 5.1 mg by another lab, creating legal exposure. He and others warned that administrative removal of products from the LDH registry without widespread notice had left businesses exposed.

Representative Schlegel and supporters emphasized the bill targets sale and distribution, not mere possession, and argued the penalties are intended to address unregulated, high-THC products that are not part of the state—s licensed program. Schlegel said she worked with the Attorney General—s office on language and that the amendment adopted on the house floor (amendment set 15 o 5) created an affirmative defense tied to permit-renewal reviews up to 45 days; she told the committee LDH reported typical agency delays are no longer than 30 days.

After extended testimony the committee adopted the house-floor amendment and Senator Cloud moved to report HB 12 with amendments. The motion carried with no objection and the committee recorded the bill as reported with amendments. Committee members and witnesses flagged multiple operational issues for oversight and implementation, including lab testing variance, agency notice procedures when products are removed from the registry, and the potential criminal exposure for small-business compliance errors.

Supporters asked the legislature to pair the criminal provisions with clearer regulatory notice and due-process safeguards; opponents asked lawmakers to remove felony-level criminal exposure for licensees and preserve administrative enforcement tools.

The committee reported HB 12 with the house-floor amendment that (1) removed a broad "good faith" defense in favor of an affirmative defense tied to pending permit renewal and (2) retained age-verification language mirroring alcohol laws. The bill will move to the Senate floor with committee amendments.