Senators advance tightened rules on intoxicating hemp products amid ongoing federal litigation

Senators heard hours of testimony and adopted amendments Tuesday to bills that would restrict intoxicating hemp-derived products and add a regulatory backup if federal litigation over Act 6 29 of 2023 leaves gaps.

The bills presented in committee would (a) clarify that industrial hemp and nonintoxicating CBD remain lawful, (b) expand the state's ability to treat synthetically altered THC-like compounds as controlled/intoxicating, and (c) include trigger language designed to keep the new regulatory scheme in abeyance until the federal courts rule on 2023 litigation.

Attorney Alex Benton of the Arkansas Attorney General's Office told the committee the office is “opposed to any regulatory scheme regarding hemp products” in the abstract because, in his reading, some repeal language on page 41 deletes enabling language for the Arkansas Tobacco Control Board. “It deletes…