This post was originally published on this site.
Join NY Cannabis Insider at our next industry networking event on Aug. 15 at Madame Mikette’s in NYC. Tickets will sell out.
New York’s Cannabis Control Board on Wednesday approved emergency regulations for hemp and hemp-derived cannabinoids – imposing stricter THC limits on hemp products and banning certain cannabinoids from the hemp program.
The move will force drastic changes for New York companies that have utilized a hemp-derived loophole created via the 2018 Farm Bill to legally sell weed edibles containing the same amount of THC as those sold at licensed adult-use dispensaries.
In addition to legalizing hemp, the Farm Bill indirectly permitted hemp-derived THC products and other cannabinoids drawn from hemp plants, such as Delta-8 THC.
“What this package does … is essentially make sure that intoxicating hemp products are not in the cannabinoid market, and the intoxicating products are more appropriately regulated in the adult-use market,” said Patrick McKeage, deputy director of the Office of Cannabis Management.
Describing the rules package before CCB members voted on the measure, McKeage said new regulations stipulate that the hemp products that include THC must have a CBD-THC ratio of at least 15-1, and a maximum of 10 milligrams of THC per package. Edible hemp products may only contain 1 milligram of THC per serving, McKeage said.
Additionally, new rules ban intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids such as Delta-8 THC, THC-A and THC-O.
“We are closing that loophole,” McKeage said.
Until now, companies that sell hemp-derived Delta-9 THC enjoyed some pretty stark benefits: they don’t pay the high regulatory costs that companies operating on legal state marijuana markets do, and they’re allowed to sell across state lines. However, many entrepreneurs in this space have long recognized that they were operating on shaky legal ground subject to change at any moment.
OCM’s new regulations could drastically affect some companies, like Marietta-based alcohol and hemp company Beak & Skiff, which has been selling seltzers containing 5 milligrams of hemp-derived Delta-9 THC and 5 milligrams of CBD under its ayrloom brand.
Mack Hueber, president of ayrloom and CFO at Beak & Skiff, told NY Cannabis Insider last year – before the company moved forward with its hemp-derived THC product – that he was wary of hemp-derived THC because the legal ground seemed shaky. However, the company ultimately moved forward with the model.
ayrloom/Beak & Skiff didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
If the new rules force Beak & Skiff to suspend operations for its ayrloom seltzer product, it’ll be the second time the company has had to pull one of its products off the market.
In 2019, Beak and Skiff launched a CBD cold brew coffee shortly before state regulators ruled CBD cannot be added to food or drinks – a measure they later changed. Beak & Skiff had to pull back the CBD coffee product, which had been slated to be sold at Wegmans stores.
After Wednesday’s CCB meeting, Brian Lane, an owner and compliance officer at Rochester-based hemp and AUCP processing company NOWAVE, told NY Cannabis Insider he thinks the new rules for the state’s cannabinoid/hemp program are a good step.
Lane’s company has processed and sold CBD products under the state’s hemp program, and separately makes THC products sold at CAURD dispensaries under its AUCP license.
NOWAVE never sold hemp-derived THC products, Lane said, because he was worried OCM would eventually ban the practice.
“Now we won’t have to worry about these hemp-derived products on the market that are taking away from the adult-use market,” Lane said, adding that the new rules also ensure all products with more than 1 milligram of THC are produced in GMP-certified facilities.
“Ultimately, this is going to kind of clean up that stuff,” Lane said.