NC Senate seeks ban on synthetic hemp and new regs for Delta 9, THC products

The North Carolina Senate wants to ban some hemp products and prohibit the sale of certain THC drinks and gummies to anyone under the age of 21 — a proposal that could set up a fight with the House, which passed a more limited measure earlier in the session.

A Senate committee is scheduled to discuss and vote on the new proposal Tuesday morning, fast-tracking the legislation as lawmakers prepare to adjourn before the end of the month, likely without a budget agreement.

Earlier this session, the House passed House Bill 328, which prohibited the use of Delta 8 and Delta 9 products on school grounds. The Senate will rewrite that bill.

“Stores selling hemp products are popping up in towns across North Carolina, and children are getting ahold of these products,” said Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County. “We cannot continue to let our state be the Wild West when it comes to hemp. Without these regulations, the availability of the dangerous products is only going to get worse.”

Businesses would have to be licensed to sell the products, which would have limits on the amount of Delta 9 present and would have to be tested. The bill would also require changes to packaging, including certain information on the labels and no characters designed to appeal to children.

Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, which is illegal in North Carolina. Hemp and marijuana both contain THC, but hemp is legal in the state because it contains THC at far lower levels than marijuana does — enough to impart some side-effects that users seek out, but not enough to get people high.

But some growers have figured out how to extract THC from hemp plants and introduce products into the marketplace touting the legal substance they do contain — cannabidiol, or CBD — but may possess enough THC to get someone high.

Hemp is a cannabis product with 0.3% or less THC, which is the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Delta 8 THC is found in trace amounts in marijuana and hemp, but can be altered to increase its potency. Delta 9 is what makes users feel high. It is more powerful than Delta 8 and is more prevalent in marijuana, WRAL previously reported.

A WRAL investigation in 2023 found that products include Delta 8 and Delta 9.

Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, recently launched a cannabis task force to regulate THC and study pot legalization in North Carolina.

“It’s really ironic that, in some ways, the most liberal, pro-marijuana adult-use state in the country is North Carolina,” Stein said in a recent interview with WRAL. “It’s not Colorado. It’s not Massachusetts. It’s not these states that legalized it and then created a regulatory structure to sell it. It’s North Carolina, where we have no rules whatsoever.”

Republican senators agree that the lack of regulation “has led to a wide-open market with harmful consequences,” said Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance.

Children have had to be taken to the emergency room after confusing THC gummies for typical candies.

“This bill takes the appropriate steps to regulate these products and gives law enforcement the ability to enforce these regulations and hold bad actors accountable,” Galey said.

North Carolina votes say they want state lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana, which has been a sticking point between the GOP-led House and Senate for years. The Senate has passed legalization bills in each of the last three years. In a WRAL News poll, 70% of respondents said they favor legalization of medical marijuana.

The bill under consideration by the Senate is scheduled to go before the Senate health care committee at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday.