Proposed Louisiana law adds criminal penalties for selling consumable hemp to minors, allows civil action

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A proposed law in the upcoming Louisiana legislative session would up the penalties for selling consumable hemp products to people under the age of 21. The age limit is already in law, but a state representative wants to put teeth behind enforcement and allow there to be avenues for civil action if a minor gets injured by a product.

“When it comes to THC, it’s so detrimental to the developing brain where if adolescents do consume THC, you can not only have short term, but you can have long term consequences,” said state Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie.

House Bill 36 expands the definition of “illegal controlled substance” to include consumable hemp products that contain THC. Schlegel wanted to have a way for people to sue the dealers or sellers of these products for damages after incidents of minors taking these products and becoming extremely ill.

“I think he was 17 years old, from Baton Rouge, and ended up in the ICU unconscious for hours, so it just made me look at what are the safeguards around this product, especially when it comes to minors,” Schlegel said.

Her companion bill, House Bill 12, adds penalties to sell, distribute, or deliver consumable hemp, such as gummies, drinks, and tinctures, to people under 21. The only exception is if an underage person lawfully works for an establishment that sells the products, then they can handle the products.

“The thing that we really, truly don’t know is, what was the product. Whenever you have the particular gummy, what was it tested for? What does it say on the product label?” Joey Jones, system director of North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory, said. “And we’ve done testing at our laboratory here in Shreveport. I have colleagues out on the East Coast that do testing on hemp-derived products, and this is published, peer-reviewed, evidence-based testing where the labels do not match. There’s more cannabinoids in some of the products.”

The punishment for the sellers of the product would be a fine of $1,000 to $2,000 or jail time for at least 30 days or up to six months. If someone underage is caught with these products, they can face a fine of $100. Those fines would not be included in a person’s criminal history, however.

Schlegel said she is modeling this off of how the state manages alcohol sales and minor possession. 

“This is just in line with the criminal penalties. Like if a bar would sell alcohol to a minor that you could be held criminally liable,” Schlegel said.

The proposed law also creates the crime of producing, manufacturing, distributing, dispensing consumable hemp products without the proper licenses already laid out in law. The punishment would be a fine of no more than $50,000 and 1-10 years of prison time.

Consumable hemp has taken the spotlight multiple times at the legislature in recent years. After the sale of consumable hemp was opened up, some felt too much THC was being allowed in individual products. Last year, the age was raised from 18 to 21, the serving size was lowered, and the products were moved out of reach. Flower hemp products remain banned in the state.

The bills will not be heard until after the legislative session begins on April 14.

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