New Virginia Hemp Law Forcing Some Shops to Close

The U.S. state of Virginia recently enacted a law to curb kid-friendly packaging in cannabis products. That law is having hard effects on some local businesses.

Lawmakers have witnessed Delta-8 products sold in packaging that mimic foods that are enticing to kids, but those in the hemp industry say this new crackdown goes too far.

“Were one of hundreds that’s made the hard decision to just shut it down,” Reed Anderson said.

Anderson says he’s shutting down his Goochland hemp business, Kame Naturals, in the wake of a new state law cracking down on THC products like Delta-8.

It limits all hemp products to only two milligrams of THC per package. That’s far lower than most products in many smoke and vape shops. Hemp products must now have at least a 25-to-1 ratio of CBD to THC, according to media reports.

“25-to-1 ratio doesn’t do what we do justice right,” Anderson said. “We started our business as a solventless extraction company, and that over time kind of had to go to the wayside because of the different regulations coming through.”

Breaking the rules could mean fines of up to $10,000.

Anderson said it’s all too much and says lawmakers paid too much attention to the intoxicating effects of THC and very little to the health benefits THC may provide.

“Once you start getting into remediated product and trying to remediate THC out of a product, you lose a lot of the natural quality CBD products offer,” Anderson said.

However, Governor Glenn Youngkin and the law’s supporters said something needed to be done to stop the sale of Delta-8 products. Too many kids were getting sick.

A statement from Gov. Youngkin’s office said in part:

“SB 903 and HB 2294 took critical steps to strengthen consumer safety and regulations around edible and inhaled hemp-derived products as well as delta-8 THC products. Specifically, the amendment continued its efforts to crack down on dangerous THC intoxicants, including synthetic THC products. In addition to the ban on synthetic THC, the limited percentage of total THC allowed in hemp products, the packaging and labeling restrictions, the testing requirements, and the total per package limit for THC, the substitute also requires retailers to register with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to sell any edible or inhaled hemp-derived product. Additionally, the General Assembly established the registration requirement and fees as a necessary operating cost and to create a database of all regulated hemp product retail stores.”

Anderson said while he’s no longer in the hemp business, he will become an advocate and plan to talk with politicians as often as he can to get these laws reformed.