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Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson says nearly 11,000 hemp products have been pulled from Florida store shelves during the state’s latest enforcement sweep targeting products that violate newly strengthened child protection standards.
And that was only in the first week of a program this year that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) has dubbed “Operation Safe Summer.”
According to an FDACS press note, law enforcement inspected retailers of hemp products in 20 counties, focusing on ensuring compliance with new packaging, labeling and marketing strictures.
Particularly, they focused on removing mind-altering products — gummies, cigarettes, drinks and other consumable goods with marijuana-like effects — in packaging attractive to or accessible by minors.
“We have drawn a hard line in Florida when it comes to protecting our children from dangerous and deceptive hemp products. ‘Operation Safe Summer’ is our latest effort to crack down on bad actors who think they can skirt the law, ignore public safety, and profit off high-potency, intoxicating hemp products that endanger our children,” Simpson said in a statement.
“We will not tire in our commitment to cleaning up this industry, holding violators accountable, and sending a clear message (that) if you refuse to follow the law, you won’t be doing business in Florida.”
The crackdown enforces updates to Rule 5K-4.034 of the Florida Administrative Code that went into effect in March. The rule mandates:
— Mandatory child-resistant packaging, per Advancing Standards Transforming Markets (ASTM) International standards.
— Labeling transparency, including scannable barcodes linking to product lab reports.
— Prohibition of packaging that mimics candy or uses images of animals, cartoons or humans.
— Strict advertising restrictions, especially for content targeting children.
— A ban on specific color additives.
— That certificates of analysis must now include lab information, the concentration of total delta-9 THC and confirm the presence or absence of prohibited substances and pathogens.
— Clear dosage labeling with common household measurements.
— Water activity for cannabis flower or leaves must be 0.60, plus or minus 0.05.
FDACS had previously advised hemp food establishments of the enforcement phase in April and early this month, when Simpson warned of “swift enforcement action” against violators.
Establishments that fail to comply risk administrative penalties, including product seizure and license suspension.
Marijuana-derived products are still largely banned in Florida, with exceptions for people who obtain medical use permits. However, a legal loophole in a 2018 federal law allowing the growth of hemp and removing the plant from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s list of controlled substances has led to an explosion in legal products high in THC — marijuana’s psychoactive chemical — across the country.
Hemp and marijuana are two varieties of the cannabis plant. Marijuana contains a comparatively high concentration of delta-9 THC, and in states where the drug is legal that is typically the go-to strain sold.
In states where recreational use remains outlawed, like Florida, retailers sell alternate products with delta-8, delta-10 and delta-0 THC, which are strains cultivated from the hemp plant to specifically induce the same euphoric “high” traditional THC provides.
During the 2023 Legislative Session, Simpson worked with lawmakers to reform Florida’s hemp laws to better safeguard consumers and children. That led to SB 1676, sponsored by Sen. Colleen Burton and Rep. Will Robinson.
The measure, which received unanimous approval in both chambers of the Legislature, maintained the age limit of 21 and up and added a statewide ban on packaging “attractive to children.”
It also mandated that the products sold in Florida be packaged in safe containers and held ingestible hemp products to the same health and safety standards as other food products.
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