Last year, the Austin, Texas-based company distributed products containing Delta-8-THC, the most exciting, and most psychoactive compound in the hemp industry, to 44 states.
Gilkey teamed up with the Texas Hemp Federation to fight the bill, which was being supported by one of the medical marijuana companies in the state, and it died while being debated in the House and Senate.
During a hearing, Senator Scott Perry gave a warning: “I believe Delta-8 probably falls under controlled statute.
Texas is not the only theater where a battle between the country’s largest cannabis companies and small hemp companies is under way.
The fate of Delta-8, which is a cousin compound to Delta-9-THC, the chemical in cannabis responsible for getting people stoned, and the companies that sell it, is not certain.
Joe Bayern, the CEO of Curaleaf, which is one of the world’s largest cannabis companies, says he thinks Delta-8 products, many of which are untested and sold in gas stations and smoke shops, pose a major public safety issue.
The effect of the Farm Bill is that hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, are not regulated by state marijuana programs, and are not required to be tested and sold through cannabis dispensaries.
“I get it, big cannabis companies are upset because of the competition, but at the same time they’re also a very elite group of special interests that have almost monopolized these states.
“I see this ultimately as a battle for the future of cannabis reform,” says Hawkins.
Lifted Made’s parent company Acquired Sales Corp, which is traded over-the-counter, said in its quarterly report that one of the big risks to the company is the fact that Delta-8 is illegal in certain states and a federal ban could come soon.
I am a staff writer on the vices beat, covering cannabis, gambling and more.
Previously at Forbes, I covered the world’s richest people as a member of the wealth team.