Louisiana lawmakers say they have unwittingly legalized hemp products containing THC

Louisiana State Senators Stewart Cathey and Sen. Jay Morris recently stated in an April 18 Senate Agriculture Committee hearing that the legalization of hemp products containing THC was unintentional. “In the last session, we unwittingly created a recreational THC market in Louisiana,” Cathey said at the meeting, according to The Daily Advertiser. “It was not the intention of the legislature to authorize a nationwide spate of unregulated markets for THC psychoactive drugs.”

Cathey introduced Senate Bill 219 on April 10, and at the last session on April 18, the bill was discussed for the first time. SB-219 proposes changing state law that allows up to 8 mg of THC in a hemp product. Instead, it suggests a maximum of 2 mg THC. “If we want to legalize [recreational THC], what hasn’t been done must be done openly and honestly,” Morris said. “It was sold to the Legislature as if we would not allow psychoactive materials.” At the April 18 hearing, the bill was approved by committee to appear before the Senate.

As senators like Cathey and Morris work to change the state’s current law, attorneys and business owners spoke about the adverse effects changing the law will have.

Business owners like Jason Garsee, who owns Str8W8 Cannabis and is also President of the Gulf South Hemp Association, have spoken publicly that changing the law would only hurt their businesses. “This law would absolutely hollow out this industry,” Garsee said. “This bill you’re carrying right now is putting people in your city, state and county out of business. It would decimate my investment and my business.”

Likewise, Black Farmers Hemp President John Ford Lafayette raised similar concerns. “That doesn’t make sense,” Lafayette said. “We’re trying to build an industry.” Casey White of Pippi’s Purpose said they spent their life savings to open their storefronts. Another business owner, Virgin Hemp Farms owner Blaine Jennings, described the bill as “a direct attack on thousands of business owners in this booming industry.”

Louisiana House Speaker Clay Schexnayder also recently introduced House Bill 605 to amend current hemp law, but not to the extent Cathey did. Schexnayder has introduced four hemp-related bills since it became federal legal in 2018.

In March, Schexnayder accused the Louisiana Health Department of failing to enforce hemp laws. “It was crystal clear what we wanted as a legislature,” Schexnayder said.

On April 10, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor released the details of his audit of the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services (DOH). The report, titled “Surveillance of Consumable Hemp Products,” found that 36 of the 2,564 registered consumable hemp products approved by the DOH were “banned.” Additionally, 198 edibles exceeded the 8 mg THC limit, among other examples of non-compliance with state laws.

Louisiana’s medicinal cannabis industry has thrived, but recreational cannabis is currently not legal. Cannabis flower sales began in January 2022.

Also in January 2022, Louisiana Senate nominee Gary Chambers smoked a blunt in a campaign video in which he spoke about the failed War on Drugs and its impact on people of color. “Every 37 seconds someone gets arrested for marijuana. Since 2010, state and local police have arrested an estimated 7.3 million Americans for violating marijuana laws, more than half of all drug arrests,” Chambers said in his video. “Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than whites. States waste $3.7 billion each year enforcing marijuana laws. Most of the people the police arrest aren’t dealers, they’re people with small amounts of weed, just like me.”