Politics
Pritzker Endorses Bill That Would Impose New Regulations on State’s Hemp Industry
Video: Joining “Chicago Tonight” on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, are Tiffany Chappell Ingram, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois; state Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago); and Justin Ward, president of the Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association. (Produced by Sean Keenehan)
SPRINGFIELD – More than five years after Illinois began issuing permits for legal production of industrial hemp, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday he now favors legislation to bring the industry under tighter regulation.
At a news conference in Chicago, Pritzker said in the short time since both the state and federal governments legalized hemp production, a new industry has emerged in which chemicals are extracted from hemp plants to produce intoxicating and potentially dangerous products that are currently unregulated.
“Commonly known as intoxicating hemp, this industry is selling hemp-derived products such as delta-8, and they're using deceptive advertising tactics to market them directly to minors,” Pritzker said. “These products have an intoxicating effect, often to dangerous levels. They're untested and unregulated and are widely available and accessible to young people.”
Illinois lawmakers passed legislation in 2018 to allow the commercial production of hemp, the same year Congress legalized hemp nationwide through the 2018 Farm Bill. The crop was once commonly used in the United States to make rope, textiles and other products, but it was effectively banned decades ago because of its close botanical relationship with marijuana.
The legislation legalizing hemp anticipated it would again be used to make industrial products, but also for the production of CDB oils that can be extracted from the plant. Those oils, and products made with them, have become popular due to the belief that they have multiple health benefits.
But the recent boom of intoxicating hemp-derived products has raised new concerns about the need for additional regulation.
House Bill 4293, which originally dealt with regulation of massage therapists, passed out of the House last spring and was sent to the Senate where it was stripped of its original language and replaced with new language regulating intoxicating hemp-derived products.
The bill would not ban such products but would impose limits on the amount of the intoxicating substance THC they can contain, and it would regulate how those products can be marketed and advertised. It also limits the manufacture and sale of those products to licensed businesses.
The amended bill passed out the Senate 54-1 in May and was sent back to the House where no further action has been taken.
Products that contain delta-8 THC are pictured next to the original packaging they resemble. (Andrew Campbell / Capitol News Illinois)
“It is vital we move forward towards regulation of hemp and delta-8 products and do so in a way that is equitable and provides opportunities within the evolving industry,” state Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester, said during the news conference. “We support the hemp industry. This is not an effort to bash the hemp industry. We want the hemp industry to survive and thrive and continue evolving.”
The Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association is also calling for hemp regulations, but says the proposed legislation does little to protect children.
“The fact is, it doesn't truly close up the loophole of allowing children to be able to get access to these products,” said Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association President Justin Ward. “These products would still be widely available online, could be shipped in from out of state, anywhere in the country, and Illinois would have no ability to regulate those products. So, I think we really need sensible regulation here in the state that provides safe options for consumers who are getting true benefits from these products.”
State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) also agrees that hemp products should be regulated, but limited to being sold at licensed cannabis dispensaries, as Lightford’s legislation suggests. Ford has sponsored alternative legislation, including House Bill 5306 and Senate Bill 3790 which also require age limits, testing and labeling, but that would license hemp businesses separately.
“My thought is that we protect an industry that’s already in existence, but regulate it and tax it and make sure that it’s safe,” Ford said. “It would definitely have a goal of limiting the age. Right now, people could purchase this under 21. We need to stop that now. We could do that today. We see people purchasing delta products at these bad actors, at gas stations and places like that. We need to shut them down today.”
The push to impose new limits on the production and sale of intoxicating hemp comes at the same time the Illinois Department of Agriculture has been working to develop new state regulations to bring the Illinois industry into compliance with new federal regulations.
The legislative Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which oversees the administrative rulemaking process, gave its approval to those rules Tuesday. That came after extensive negotiations with the Illinois Hemp Business Association, a lobby group that represents many small, minority-owned hemp businesses.
In a statement, the association said this week it was satisfied with the final negotiated version of the administrative rules, but still had significant concerns about the new hemp regulation bill. The association sayid it “threatens the industry by potentially banning beneficial components of the hemp plant.”
But the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, which represents the cannabis industry, issued a statement Friday supporting the legislation.
“We applaud Gov. JB Pritzker’s call to protect consumers and rein in the gray market,” the group’s executive director Tiffany Chappell Ingram said in a statement. “We urge lawmakers to take swift action, as Illinois is already falling behind other states that have adopted meaningful regulations.”
Lawmakers are expected to consider the bill during an upcoming lame duck session, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Thursday, Jan. 2.
Note: This article was first published Dec. 13, 2024, and updated with video and additional information Dec. 16, 2024.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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