The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is moving forward with rulemaking on Delta-8-THC and other psychoactive hemp and cannabis products that currently fall outside of the agency’s purview, KTVZ reports. Under the state’s legalization law, the OLCC only regulates Delta-9.
The rulemaking comes as Delta-8 products emerge in non-cannabis brick-and-mortar shops throughout the U.S. and on the Internet. The cannabinoid can be derived from hemp.
Paul Rosenbaum, OLCC Commission chair, said that the rules reforms were required because minors could go into grocery stores and purchase the products.
The OLCC rulemaking would only apply to the state’s cannabis industry and legislative action would be required to further regulate the compound, the report says.
Steve Marks, OLCC’s executive director, said that the agency doesn’t “have sufficient authority over total THC in Oregon.” He added that unregulated hemp in the state “has no final product testing” and regulatory authorities can only test for Delta-9 in the field.
“But until we get that and ability to do final product testing to help get these things into the right markets where they’re supposed to be, either in the unregulated hemp CBD market or into our market, it’s going to be hard.” – Marks via KTVZ
The House General Government Committee is set to analyze the Delta-8 issue at a public hearing on Thursday and could consider legislation to allow product testing and labeling for all intoxicating THC products, only allow them to be sold at OLCC-regulated retailers, and ban the sale of Delta-9 products to minors.
Last year the federal Drug Enforcement Administration published an addendum to the 2018 Farm Bill that attempts to clarify that all “tetrahydracannabinols” – including Delta-8 – are illegal under federal law.
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