Tag: Kentucky

  • Judge Orders Kentucky Sheriff to Return Delta-8

    Judge Orders Kentucky Sheriff to Return Delta-8

    A federal judge in Kentucky has ordered a Laurel County sheriff to return hemp products and derivatives that were seized from a pair of stores. The judge found that the store owner is likely to succeed on his claims that they were unlawfully taken.

    In an order filed last week, U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom said Joseph Bingham most likely has federal and state law on his side and his products were lawful, according to law360. She said Sheriff John Root must return what was seized in the February raid and is blocked from seizing similar products in the future.

    According to the suit, Bingham operates two CBD stores and on and Feb. 25, Root and others from the Laurel County Sheriff’s Department raided those businesses and seized products containing delta-8 THC without a warrant.

    While Root argued the products were in plain sight, Bingham alleged many of the products were in a back store room. There is also a dispute as to whether an employee at one of the stores consented to the search and seizure, according to the suit.

    In the order, Judge Boom noted that the 2018 Farm Bill exempts hemp and its derivatives from the definition of cannabis that is listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, and the Farm Bill specifically excludes THC in hemp and its derivatives, with courts finding that this depends on the delta-9 THC concentration.

  • Judge Rules Delta-8 THC Legal for Sale in Kentucky

    Judge Rules Delta-8 THC Legal for Sale in Kentucky

    A judge in the U.S. state of Kentucky has sided with the state’s hemp industry over law enforcement.

    The judge ruled that products containing delta-8 THC derived from hemp are legal, a hemp trade association said in a news release.

    The Kentucky Hemp Association (KHA) – which sued the state over the issue a year ago – celebrated the ruling as “a huge win for farmers and retailers.”

    Police had begun raiding licensed Kentucky hemp shops in an effort to crack down on the delta-8 THC market.

    The enforcement stemmed from the state Department of Agriculture releasing a letter that referred to delta-8 THC hemp products as a “Schedule 1 controlled substance,” illegal under U.S. law, despite the federal legalization of hemp in 2018, according to mjbizdaily.

    The KHA then sued the department, the state agriculture commissioner and the state police commissioner to halt the raids.

    “These delta-8 raids on retailers were … a challenge we were ready and willing to face in order to protect retailers of Kentucky Proud Hemp products,” KHA Vice President Tate Hall said in the release.

  • Kentucky Bill Would Allow Cities to Pass Vapor Laws

    Kentucky Bill Would Allow Cities to Pass Vapor Laws

    Many states are seeking to limit local governments from passing restrictions beyond state vaping and tobacco laws such as flavor bans. A Kentucky lawmaker, however, has filed a bill to give cities and counties more power to pass their own rules dealing with smoking and vaping.

    According to WKYT.com, Senate Bill 166 would allow cities, counties or other local governments to adopt tougher rules or restrictions than the state allows when it comes to smoking or vaping products.

    Credit: Andreykr

    Tony Florence, the owner of four Lexington vaping stores, told the news agency that the bill would be extremely damaging to because business owners and other vaping advocates would have to fight regulation in every city or county, causing problems for thousands of mom-and-pop style businesses.

    Florence says vaping products generate a lot of tax revenue for the state and he says this bill would be hurtful to a product that he says is less harmful than cigarettes.

    SB 166 is sponsored by Senator Wil Schroder and would impact the use, sale, or distribution of tobacco or vapor products. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee but has not yet been called up for a vote.

  • University to Study Impact of Flavor Restriction Policies

    University to Study Impact of Flavor Restriction Policies

    Policies that restrict the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, e-liquids and other tobacco products including menthol cigarettes impact health disparities among vulnerable populations is the subject for a new study to be conducted by the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. The five-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) will support the study on how local policies impact at-risk groups — including communities of color, low-income populations and youth — that are more likely to use flavored tobacco products.

    Credit: Wolterke

    The results could help lawmakers create policies that are more equitable, says the study’s principal investigator Shyanika Rose, Ph.D., a faculty member of the Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET), assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Science and member of the Markey Cancer Center Cancer Prevention and Control Program. “We already know that stopping the sale of these products can reduce their availability and use in these communities,” said Rose. “But understanding the impact of policies across race and socioeconomic status will give guidance about what kinds of policies work and have the most equitable benefits.”

    Rose says flavored tobacco (including vaporizers and e-cigarettes) products, which are more appealing, easier to use and more addictive, have a long history of being disproportionately marketed toward vulnerable communities, particularly African Americans. Currently, federal laws only prohibit the sale of certain flavored tobacco products.

    The sale of menthol cigarettes and all flavors of smokeless tobacco, cigars and hookah is still permitted. While the Food and Drug Administration recently announced new steps to implement a ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, the proposal will not eliminate all flavored tobacco products from the market, specifically flavored e-cigarettes and e-liquids.

    “While the FDA is moving federal policy in the right direction, comprehensive policies that restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco products may be more likely to protect the health of the most vulnerable populations and this is something this project will investigate,” Rose said.

  • Kentucky Ends 15% Wholesale Tax on Vapor Hardware

    Kentucky Ends 15% Wholesale Tax on Vapor Hardware

    The state of Kentucky’s General Assembly has voted to remove the state’s 15 percent wholesale tax on vaping hardware when sold separately from e-liquids. The e-liquid will continue to be taxed at 15 percent. That was the intent of the original tax bill, Republican Rep. Jason Petrie of Elkton, sponsor of House Bill 249, an omnibus revenue bill, said at a February committee meeting. He said legislators had been receiving lots of calls about it, and the bill more clearly defines how open “vaping” systems should be taxed.

    Last March, when the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee passed a trimmed down version of a House bill to tax e-cigarettes for the first time in Kentucky, Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, said the hardware should only be taxed at 6%, according to the Times-Tribune. Ultimately, the 15 percent tax on open systems, including both hardware and solution, and a $1.50-per-pod tax on closed vapor cartridges were added to the revenue bill and became law.

    A fiscal statement attached to this year’s bill notes that Kentucky started taxing vaping products in August 2020 and has generated about $1.5 million per month from the levies. It says about $1.4 million per month comes from taxes on closed systems, like those sold by Juul Labs, and about $185,500 per month on the open systems, which are typically sold in “vape” shops. The report says removal of the 15 percent separate-hardware tax will cost $243,750 in revenue. That’s a relatively small amount, but health advocates were not happy with the change.

    “Removing the tax on open vaping system devices reduces tax revenues at a time when Kentucky remains very uncertain about the long-term economic impact of the pandemic,” Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said in an e-mail, according to the Times-Tribune. “Moreover, these devices will become the sole tobacco product to escape a state excise tax.”

    In contrast, Chandler said, “Only 19 of the state’s 61 local health departments will get funding for tobacco prevention and cessation beginning July 1. We urge the governor and lawmakers to work together to address Kentucky’s continuing tobacco and nicotine addiction problem, which appears to have grown during the pandemic.”

  • Vapor Excise Taxes in Kentucky Take Effect Aug. 1

    Vapor Excise Taxes in Kentucky Take Effect Aug. 1

    E-cigarettes are the only tobacco product sold in Kentucky that is not subject to an excise tax. That changes Saturday.

    Earlier this year, Kentucky lawmakers approved House Bill 351 that included an excise tax on vapor products. In addition to the state’s 6 percent sales tax, an excise tax will be imposed on closed and open vaping systems, according to Kentucky.com. Kentucky will now charge $1.50 on each closed cartridge or pod and 15 percent of the actual price for which the distributor sells an open system.

    The new excise tax on vaping products is expected to generate about $7.9 million for the state this fiscal year and slightly more in coming years since the tax did not start on July 1, the beginning of this fiscal year.