A state bill that would alter hemp product regulation in ways cannabis industry groups allege would deliver another haymaker to growers drew a letter of opposition from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The board voted 4-0 with Madrone absent.

The Humboldt County Grower’s Alliance opposes Assembly Bill 2223 because of clauses that would allow high-THC hemp products to be sold in cannabis dispensaries, competing with local flower that — unlike hemp — cannot be traded across state lines. Ross Gordon, the alliance’s policy director told the board on Tuesday that the bill would facilitate competition between out-of-state hemp growers and local cannabis cultivators on an uneven playing field because of the more stringent regulatory requirements for growers.

“This proposal from the governor would open up interstate commerce in these high-THC hemp products, but not cannabis products, so no pathway forward for any of our farmers to sell out of state, but would be competing against high-THC products produced by very large companies based out-of-state and importing into California,” Gordon said.

The letter, introduced by 1st District Supervisor Rex Bohn and 2nd District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell — representing Humboldt County’s historic cultivation areas that fell on hard times following the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016 legalizing recreational marijuana and the subsequent statewide spike in supply — asks legislators for three amendments to the bill: a ban on incorporating hemp-derived THC in cannabis products, establishing a maximum THC threshold for hemp products beneath the amount that would get a user high, and clearly define synthetic cannabinoids.

Hemp is protected under the United States farm bill, meaning it can be shipped across state lines and outside U.S. borders. Nevada County and Mendocino County have also come out against the bill.

The bill would also restrict the sale of high-THC hemp products at gas stations and liquor stores, an angle Gordon said he does not oppose but sees as a separate issue from their sale at cannabis dispensaries.

“When the governor can just make one swoop of his pen and literally destroy everything we have built here is really, really concerning,” Craig Johnson, founder of Alpenglow Farms, a cultivator in southern Humboldt County, said.

None during the meeting defended the bill, the full text of which can be found at legiscan.com/CA/text/AB2223/id/2919368. The bill will be heard in the Assembly’s appropriations committee on Thursday.

Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506

Originally Published: August 13, 2024 at 1:27 p.m.