State Senate Committee Takes Up Bill to Regulate Hemp for Consumption

Pennsylvania senators are debating proposed legislation that would allow the state to regulate industrial hemp as a food additive.

Senate Bill 335, called the Industrial Hemp Act, would allow hemp-based products for human use as long as they originate from a company in good standing that’s also located in a state or country where growing hemp is legal.

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Judith Schwank, D-Reading, spoke at the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee this week and said the legislation is modeled after a law Colorado passed last year.

“I think [it] would be a way to progress our industry here while at the same time safeguarding the purity of the product and the consumer of the product as well,” said Schwank, the committee’s minority chair.

When Congress passed the Farm Bill last year, it included a provision legalizing the commercial production of hemp. That came after the 2014 Farm Bill allowed universities to grow the crop as a research project. The Pennsylvania Legislature authorized research to take place in the state in 2016.

Prior to that, Congress banned growing hemp in 1970 as part of the Controlled Substances Act because it came from the same species as marijuana.

Hemp and marijuana plants look similar. However, industrial hemp has a much lower THC level, usually less than 0.3 percent of the chemical that gives marijuana users a high. Hemp also features higher levels of cannabinoid, or CBD, which some believe has the potential for providing pain relief.

Schwank’s bill would require any approved product to state the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not tested it for safety or effectiveness. It also would mandate any hemp or CBD product sold in Pennsylvania carry no more than 0.3 percent of THC.

Fred Strathmeyer, the Department of Agriculture’s deputy secretary for plant industry and consumer protection, told the committee there’s still a lot of confusion about hemp, especially when it comes to adding it to food and beverages. He said many are looking to the FDA for more guidance.

“There’s still a lot to be learned about this plant, about where we go with this industry,” he said. “Not only in Pennsylvania but across the nation.”

Erica Stark, who serves as the executive director for the National Hemp Association and the Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council, told lawmakers there’s still some cleaning up that needs to happen on a legislative basis. She described the current environment as a "Wild West" situation.

For example, while the 2018 Farm Bill decriminalized hemp federally, that did not happen at a state level. That can be particularly worrisome if a farmer grows a product that tests at a THC rate slightly higher than 0.3 percent, especially since the Department of Agriculture’s jurisdiction ends at the time of harvest. That could have inadvertent legal ramifications for distributors, retailers and even consumers.

She also noted that there are plenty of CBD products being sold in convenience stores across the Commonwealth, but there’s no way to know where that product was produced and whether it has an acceptable level of THC.

“Hemp needs to be removed from the state’s controlled substances act, and there needs to be definitions of labeling and clarity, or we’re just going to continue to see examples of law-abiding citizens getting arrested and going through the judicial system unnecessarily,” she said.

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