Bill to regulate THC-infused drinks, gummies withdrawn in Delaware

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Gretchen Cirwithian can continue visiting Botana Organics, her favorite CBD store, to buy gummies, creams and other items she uses to help relieve anxiety, body aches and insomnia.

Cirwithian, who doesn’t drink alcohol, also can keep getting cannabis-infused drinks that give her a mild buzz from the shop north of Wilmington.

At least for now.

That’s because a state lawmaker seeking to put strict regulations on sales of hemp-based products with low and legal levels of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — has abandoned her efforts to pass a bill before the General Assembly adjourns for the year in two weeks.

Gretchen Cirwithian urges lawmakers to confer with CBD users like herself before coming up with a new bill. (Cris Barrish/WHYY)

Two WHYY News stories last week chronicled the two major and controversial components of the bill introduced in May by state Rep. Deborah Heffernan, and the complaints from CBD store owners, customers and marijuana advocates.

One section would have restricted the sale of hemp products with any THC at all to the state’s 30 authorized retail marijuana stores, none of which have opened nearly two years and three months after state lawmakers legalized weed for adults age 21 and older. Officials still won’t say when the retail stores will open.

The second provision in the bill would have allowed only liquor stores to sell the cannabis-infused, nonalcoholic beverages that are now available in those stores as well as restaurants, bars, CBD stores, smoke shops and gas stations.

Heffernan now says she hopes to create a new proposal “in the coming months” for consideration. After ending their work June 30, state lawmakers won’t be back in session until January.

“While I still believe in the importance of increasing safety testing and ensuring age verification for cannabinoid intoxicating products, I believe that further and wider conversations need to be had with business owners in this area and our new marijuana commissioner,” Heffernan said in a statement she posted on her legislative Facebook page.

Heffernan, a northern New Castle County Democrat, did not respond to a request from WHYY News for comment about going back to the drawing board.

From Cirwithian’s perspective, Heffernan is doing the right thing by hitting the pause button.

“That’s amazing,” Cirwithian exclaimed. “I’m just not going to a liquor store. And then to be able to get my health and wellness advice from someone who knows what they’re talking about, who’s done the research, I’m extremely excited.”

Zoe Patchell, who heads the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, agreed that Heffernan was wise to withdraw the bill “that would have had significant unintended consequences” for the hemp industry and their customers.

“The common ground between all this is the lawmakers, regulators and the local hemp businesses all agreed that regulation with testing, labeling and age restrictions are all the way to go,” Patchell said.

Patchell has said she believes CBD stores should be able to sell products with less than 0.3% of THC, which are permitted by federal law. She also said those stores, as well as the retail weed stores, should be able to sell the THC-infused drinks. 

Joshua Sanderlin, who was sworn in as marijuana commissioner a month ago, told WHYY News last week that cannabis-infused drinks should be sold at retail weed stores as long as they are produced in Delaware. The 2023 law that created the legal market stipulated that the state’s retail weed stores can only sell marijuana grown in the state.

The measure introduced in May would have forced gummies with even low levels of THC to be sold only in marijuana retail store, which still have not opened in Delaware. (Cris Barrish/WHYY)

Sanderlin also said regulation of intoxicating THC products is paramount for the safety of residents.

“There are no regulations in place for these products and they are coming into the state,” Sanderlin said. “So getting some regulations around them, getting some testing on them, is the most important thing that we’re facing.”

Jena Murray, a Delaware resident who works for a CBD company and is president of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable advocacy group, said the media stories and an email campaign to lawmakers by her group’s members helped kill the bill.

“It’s great when you can finally express an industry’s concern enough to where the lawmakers realize that it’s a little bit more of a complex issue than they originally thought,” Murray said.

She noted that a major concern expressed by Heffernan was that kids are buying products with higher levels of THC and taking them to school, where they are being confiscated.

Murray said her industry looks forward to helping craft “a bill that is really comprehensive and robust to protect children and adults as well. So let’s protect all consumers and make sure children can’t buy them.”

Cirwithian said her message for Heffernan and other lawmakers is to listen to their constituents who use the products — not just the financial interests of the hemp, marijuana and alcohol industries — as they craft a replacement bill.

“I feel like some of these bills are born out of just sheer ignorance and not knowing, or maybe it’s about money and the bottom line, but it’s like you don’t understand how this is affecting your people,” Cirwithian said. “Talk to your people.”

This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.