The North Carolina State Senate is scheduled to vote this coming Thursday (June 26, 2025) on regulating hemp-derived THC products, which have been legal, and largely unregulated since 2018.
The North Carolina House recently passed similar legislation that would regulate hemp and kratom products, and WUNC reports that State House Speaker Destin Hall is open to considering the Senate version, so there’s still some political wrangling to be done.
The politicians involved say that the primary purpose of the new bill is to keep the products away from kids, but that’s what politicians always say right before they take away the rights of adults. I’d like to think that NO ONE favors the selling of THC products to children, so by all means, pass a law that requires purchasers to be at least 21 years of age.
(By the way, Deltrium is in favor of regulations for hemp-derived products. We’ve read the bill and believe our products are already compliant with the proposed regulations.)
The recently passed House Bill 328, primarily bans the sale of hemp-derived THC products to people under 21, and creates new product testing requirements, both of which make complete sense to us.
We fully understand the need to regulate hemp-derived products in North Carolina and elsewhere. Over the last several years, we’ve visited countless retailers that sell such products and frankly, have been shocked at the amount of absolute crap that’s readily available.
One giant chocolate bar we were offered said it contained 3500 milligrams of Delta-9 THC on the packaging. Now, that’s way too much THC to put into a chocolate bar, but don’t worry… we scanned the QR code to check the lab reports and the bar in question actually contained NO Delta-9 THC at all. None. (It did contain 300 milligrams of Delta-8, if you can trust their lab reports, which we do not.)
There are numerous other examples of low or no quality products out there, and also many now advertising THCP, THCO, THCX, none of which naturally occur in the hemp plant, rather these are synthetic cannabinoids that, in our opinion, are far too strong for the vast majority of consumers. Maybe there’s something to be done about such products.
What is THCA Flower?
The vast majority of the THC being sold in North Carolina is referred to as THCA flower, which is really just cannabis that contains a low amount of Delta-9 THC… less than .3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight. The issue is that THCA is the precursor to Delta-9 THC… in fact, THCA turns into Delta-9 THC when it degrades, and burning it is very degrading.
So, the bottom-line is that in North Carolina, a state in which traditional cannabis is illegal for anyone and any purpose, people have been legally selling THCA flower in this state for the past seven years, since 2018. And since THCA flower turns into illegal cannabis as soon as you burn it, the whole thing should just be embarrassing to our politicians at this point. They seem literally the last to know.
What will North Carolina do about that? I don’t know.
But, what about the children?
Politicians like to make points with their constituents by claiming to protect children, which is about as politically risky as opposing cancer. However, they don’t do much to stop alcohol advertising from showing up everywhere, nor do they try to stop Mountain Dew’s marketing (or any of the other sugar and caffeine laced processed trash we feed kids), and they even allow open carry of a handgun WITHOUT A PERMIT for anyone 18 and older in this state.
Still, no one should be in favor of selling THC products to children. To think otherwise is ridiculous. And, no one should be opposed to testing requirements that help make the products offered safer. All of that sounds perfectly fine, needed even.
However, if the state moves to broadly ban products that have been legal since the Farm Bill of 2018 became federal law, all they’ll accomplish is to put hundreds of companies out of business, while creating a robust black market for illegal products.
According to WUNC’s reporting, Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston, has said recently: “I think one of the most shocking things to me is anybody can purchase a lot of this. It’s in our schools. It’s impacting our children. It’s having a negative health impact.” (Another representative suggested that the products may be coming from China, which just made me laugh.)
That’s the sort of hysterical thinking that will lead to bad law.
There’s no evidence of hemp-derived products in schools, no health crisis underway. There are some bad actors that need to be stopped and the industry will benefit from smart regulations, but if not done thoughtfully, all that the new law will do is fuel sales of black-market cannabis.
We’ve tried prohibition before, you may recall. It didn’t work.
Governor Josh Stein says he favors legal cannabis for adults, but to-date North Carolina has failed to even address the issue of medical cannabis in any serious legislation. Maybe that will soon change.
Every recent study on the cannabis issue shows over 70 percent of North Carolina voters in favor of legal cannabis for medical purposes, but almost 60 percent want it recreationally legal.
Look more closely at the data and you’ll see that medical marijuana legalization received a majority of support from Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters, at all education levels, and with all age groups… with the exception of those age 80 and older.
According to the MPP (Marijuana Policy Project), the latest polling in 2024 now shows 95% of support in North Carolina for changing the state’s cannabis laws. Sixty-two percent supported adult-use legalization, 32% supported allowing cannabis for medical use only, and a mere 5% support the current policy of prohibition.
Who knows? The state may do something stupid anyway, they’re not geniuses, we should all realize by now. But, if you care about the issue, it’s certainly time to take a few minutes and fire off an email to your elected North Carolina representative. (Feel free to forward this article, if you’d like.)
Maybe this time, we don’t let the octogenarians among us decide on whether we’re allowed to take a gummy to help us sleep or not?
To find your North Carolina elected representatives, click HERE.
To contact Governor Josh Stein, click HERE.
Skip to content
