‘Cannabis control board’ bill introduced to manage unregulated hemp in PA

Erie, Pa (WJET/WFXP)– Even just 10 years ago, seeing a vape store would have been a rare sight, but now, they seem to be on every street corner.

Since the Federal Farm Bill passed in 2018, one Pennsylvania senator said there’s been an explosion of these vape shops across the Commonwealth, some of which have found loopholes to market unregulated hemp products.

“Some of them are very legitimate businesses. They’re trying to do a good job, pay attention to where they’re sourcing their products from and they’re also keeping it out of the hands of kids, but that’s not the case for a lot of places,” said Dan Laughlin, Pennsylvania State Senator.  

He said gas stations, vape stores and convenience stores are selling these unregulated products with no known testing, labeling, or age restrictions, potentially causing health risks for users.

“The grey area is, if you derive a product from a legal hemp-based product, you can concentrate the THCA, which is ever so slightly different from THC, and you can turn it into virtually very potent cannabis, and basically with a wink and a nod call it hemp, and I think that was not the intention of the 2018 farm bill,” said Laughlin.

The rise of unregulated products has led Laughlin to sponsor Senate Bill 49 to transfer regulatory control of the state’s medical marijuana program from the PA Department of Health.

Last week, the PA Senate Law and Justice Committee approved legislation for a cannabis control board, which he said would create uniform safety standards for these unregulated products, while also making the amending process run smoother for legislators.

“Trying to get a bill passed every time you need to make an adjustment to a law, it’s monumentally slow usually, and if you have a board that’s dedicated to this, that we give authority to promulgate regulations, if a minor tweak needs made to something, they can do it in a week rather than in two years,” said Laughlin.

Laughlin said the legislation is not about legalizing recreational cannabis, but about cleaning up the system the state currently has.

That being said, if and when adult-use cannabis comes to Pennsylvania, he said, having a professional cannabis board already in place and running would make sense.

Next, the legislation will head to the Senate for approval, and if it passes, it will go to the House of Representatives for another vote.