As Pennsylvania’s divided government continues to grapple with adult-use cannabis legalization, a proposal to ban intoxicating hemp products found bipartisan support on March 16.
The Senate Law and Justice Committee voted, 10-1, to amend legislation, which aims to establish a Pennsylvania Cannabis Control Board (CCB), to include hemp provisions that align with the federal government’s forthcoming product ban.
The legislation, Senate Bill 49, is sponsored by Sen. Daniel Laughlin, R-Erie, who chairs the Law and Justice Committee. The committee originally advanced the bill in October – before the federal law was passed – but the committee recommitted the legislation with the hemp amendment on Tuesday.
“As the federal government updates its definition of hemp, Pennsylvania needs to make sure our laws remain consistent and enforceable,” Laughlin said. “Amending Senate Bill 49 to mirror these federal changes helps close the same loopholes that allowed intoxicating hemp products to flood the marketplace with little oversight.”
The federal law that the Pennsylvania amendment mirrors will, on Nov. 12, prohibit any hemp-derived products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC, as well as those containing synthetic (delta-8 THC) or unnatural (HHC) cannabinoids.
The federal law will also redefine the hemp plant to include total THC (including THCA) in its 0.3% testing threshold, meaning it will remove the delta-9 THC language from the 2018 Farm Bill, which is often referred to as the “loophole” that allowed intoxicating hemp products to proliferate nationwide.
Under S.B. 49 in Pennsylvania, the CCB would oversee cannabis and hemp-derived products under a single regulatory structure. Under the state’s current medical-only cannabis program, the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana oversees a commercial marketplace that showcased $1.8 billion in dispensary sales last year.
Laughlin said he hopes his bill will modernize Pennsylvania’s cannabis policy, planning not only for the possibility of adult-use legalization, but also to improve consumer protections, regulatory clarity and clear law enforcement authorities in the here and now.
“Right now, there are too many gray areas in the law,” Laughlin said. “By aligning our statutes with federal standards and establishing a single regulatory body, we can protect consumers, support responsible businesses and help law enforcement crack down on bad actors in the marketplace.”
In addition to S.B. 49, Laughlin also sponsors an adult-use legalization proposal, S.B. 120, alongside Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia. It, too, intends to establish a Pennsylvania Cannabis Control Board to oversee a licensed, regulated and taxed industry, from which adults 21 and older could buy and possess up to 30 grams of cannabis flower (roughly 1 ounce), 5 grams of cannabis concentrate or 1,000 milligrams of THC in an infused cannabis product.
But talks for adult-use legalization have hit continuous roadblocks in the commonwealth, where the Democratic-controlled House and governorship have collided with the GOP majority in the Senate.
While Laughlin introduced his bipartisan adult-use legalization bill in the Senate last July, he has refused to schedule the legislation for a vote in the committee he chairs – where the bill currently sits – demanding that Democrats in the House first pass companion legislation that mirrors his bill.
Laughlin told the Erie Times-News last year that he would continue to hold his own bill hostage until the House could “prove” that it “has the ability” to pass the language in his proposal, veering from the traditional legislative process.
Among the 24 states that have legalized adult-use cannabis in the U.S., nine have done so legislatively, 13 have done so through citizen-initiated ballot measures, and two have done so through legislative-referred referendums.
No state has done so through a divided Legislature: The 15 states where lawmakers were involved via bills or referendums all had Democratic-controlled legislatures.
