Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) is pushing to regulate hemp sales in the city as new research finds that the potency of hemp-derived products is often mislabeled, posing a threat to unsuspecting consumers.
Hemp products don’t face the same strict regulations imposed on the state’s recreational and medical cannabis industry, a loophole Hopkins said allows for an unfettered market of highly dosed THC products to thrive.
Hopkins is sponsoring two ordinances to regulate these products, which he says kids can easily access because they are typically sold at corner stores, smoke shops and gas stations.
“We’re seeing a Wild West, unregulated environment here for these types of products that are trying to compete with a highly regulated, controlled environment that has the higher cost associated with it,” Hopkins told reporters Thursday at City Hall.
The ordinance Hopkins has introduced would ban the sale of alternative cannabinoids, the compound found in cannabis and hemp, outside of licensed weed dispensaries and impose tighter zoning restrictions on unregulated sellers.
But he acknowledged that it’s a tricky product to regulate because “hemp-derived” has become a vague term as manufacturers manipulate the THC levels of the hemp.
“This illegal, illicit industry has figured out a way to artificially enhance the THC in hemp by using synthetic additives,” Hopkins said. “It’s basically starting out from the hemp plant and saying we’re legal because we’re using this loophole, but then using laboratory processes to magnify the intoxicating effect.”
Hopkins’ call for more regulation comes as a new study from the University of Illinois Chicago found that hemp products are often more potent than advertised and fail to mention which psychoactive substances they contain.
Although it’s in the cannabis family, hemp has far less Delta-9 THC, the psychoactive compound, or cannabinoid, that gets weed users high. Hemp products, under Illinois and federal law, can’t have more than a 0.3% THC potency. Recreational cannabis often has 20% or more.
But the UIC study, testing hemp edible products and flower samples from Chicago retailers, found that 87% of the edibles tested had inaccurately labeled what cannabinoids were in the products. Some were labeled as “Delta-8” or “Delta-10” — lab-created compounds similar to Delta-9 — but contained other unlabeled cannabinoids.
In some cases, the labeled-THC potency was wildly inaccurate, the study found. Some samples were up to five times higher than the label suggested, and one edible had 70 times the legal dosage limit for the total THC allowed under Illinois’ legal weed law.
“Unfortunately, novel substances are constantly being developed to circumvent regulations, and we’re always struggling to catch up with our regulations. And our youth are the ones who suffer,” said Dr. Maria Rahmandar, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s Hospital, at Thursday’s news conference.
Hopkins shared some examples of the edible hemp products being sold to highlight how they often appeal to kids. Some of the packages mimicked the branding of popular snacks, like “Trips Ahoy,” “Trippi” and “Zkittles.”
Unlike cannabis grown in the ground, the health implications of synthetic cannabinoids have not been studied, Rahmander said. Researchers have found that marijuana use can impact a developing brain, affecting attention, memory and learning, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But with these lab-created products, “it’s hard to know what’s in them,” Rahmandar said. “It is really hard to know what somebody’s taking and then what those impacts are long term. And these products keep changing — there’s always something new and at a different percentage.”
When kids ingest these hemp products, they can experience a range of adverse symptoms, Rahmander said. Some of her patients come in with symptoms like vomiting and hallucinations. Others experience more mild symptoms like persistent headaches and forgetfulness.
