Does anyone know what is going on with hemp in Missouri?

Hemp-derived cannabis market still going strong despite Gov. Parson’s ban attempt

By now, you’ve probably heard the news that Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order banning the sale of psychoactive, hemp-derived food and beverage products in Missouri, which was supposed to take effect on Sept. 1. Last week, news came out that Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft rejected the emergency ruling and that execution of the order might be delayed at least six months.

The governor’s office and the secretary of state are at odds. Despite Ashcroft’s rejection of the order, the Department of Health & Senior Services issued a statement on Aug. 29 expressing its determination to begin enforcing the order on Sept. 1. Can enforcement actually happen against the will of the secretary of state? It remains to be seen.

So, what does all this mean for the brands selling these products in Missouri? It turns out that the executive order – the wording of which was quite confusing and lacking clarity – seems to only ban the sale of these products by retailers and liquor stores. That would mean the door is still wide open for any companies shipping their products, as well as for events like the Munchie Market taking place on Sept. 1 at Little Bevo.

We spoke with players on each side of the issue to try to get to the bottom of this complicated subject.

Triple THC cannabis seltzers
Triple THC seltzer, which was recently founded in St. Louis, had just become available in select Total Wine stores in Missouri when news broke about the executive order.

“This order, which circumvented and undermined the normal legislative process, threatens to harm thousands of small businesses and farmers across the Show-Me State,” said Will Spartin, Triple founder and chief operating officer. “While we agree with Governor Parson that addressing bad actors in the industry is crucial, we believe that wiping out hemp is not the solution. Along with Steven Busch of Krey Distributing and other industry stakeholders, we have worked with lawmakers on drafting a regulatory framework for hemp which would include milligram limits, minimum purchase age of 21, and testing/labeling requirements.”

Triple is low-dose at just 3 milligrams of THC per can, is not marketed to children, and is only sold to persons over 21 in liquor stores, convenience stores, bars and restaurants, according to Spartin. “Each batch of our products is extensively tested and we hold ourselves to the highest quality standards, manufacturing and labeling standards,” he said.

Mighty Kind
Mighty Kind has been leading the pack in locally made hemp beverages for several years, and founder Josh Grigiatis said he doesn’t have much confidence that the order can be executed. “It’s a really big overreach of power,” he said. 

Grigiatis said he got into the hemp industry because it has a chance to be more accessible to people than marijuana purchased inside a dispensary. “We’re trying to offer an alternative to alcohol,” he said. “At Pop’s [Blue Moon, a St. Louis bar that Grigaitis co-owns], over 20% of sales are hemp beverages, and to take that away from a small business that’s just trying to survive, that’s terrible.”

Furthermore, Grigaitis said he is on board with increasing regulations for the hemp industry. “We’re all for package regulations and maximums and keeping it quality and safe and transparent and accountable,” he said. “We have lab tests attached to all our products and QR codes you can scan to view those.” 

Grigaitis said he has no plans of slowing down his business, regardless of whether the order is executed or not. “We might have to go to the other side of the river if this goes through, but we’re not going anywhere,” he said. “I think we have all learned over the last 100 years that prohibition doesn't work. Hopefully we can find some common ground to keep these drinks safe and accessible.”

BeLeaf Medical
Mitch Meyers, partner and founder of BeLeaf Medical, the parent company of Swade Dispensary, said BeLeaf Medical was involved in putting together a related bill to put before legislators in Jefferson City last session. “We worked very hard to educate many as to the concern,” she said. “It was not well known nor understood. When the legislative session ended without being brought up for a vote, the governor and the Department of Health felt it was so problematic and issued the executive order, which we did not suspect.”

The citizens of Missouri voted twice to allow cannabis, but only in a very regulated fashion, Meyers said. “If a product has psychoactive compounds, the citizens want it regulated, as has been established by Amendment 2,” she said.

Illicit Gardens
David Craig, chief marketing officer of Illicit Gardens, one of Missouri’s leading cannabis brands, said the order’s “less detailed language is more likely to lead to more legal challenges than if the language was outlined in greater detail. At the same time, the vagueness in the language may lend itself to a broader interpretation by officials and the courts.”

Craig also weighed in on mail-order hemp products. “My personal opinion is that this should be a state-wide restriction on all forms; however, you're wading into federal territory via aspects of the 2018 Farm Bill. State-level regulatory oversight of hemp derived products crossing state lines is something that would likely put the state legislature in the crosshairs of the USDA and is something I'm guessing Governor Parson would prefer to avoid,” he said. “Unless it were a national restriction, there's not much Missouri can do to prevent out-of-state shipments of these types of products by mail – regardless of the risks involved in consuming them.”

According to Craig, part of the concern with unregulated hemp products is potential exposure to pesticides and other toxins. “While the manufacturing process to make distillate is practically the same between hemp and cannabis, the difference comes down to safety protections for consumers,” he said.

All legal cannabis products sold in Missouri are run through the state-wide track-and-trace software Metrc, according to Craig. “That means that every step of the process … is tracked and closely monitored by the state,” he said. “A vital part of this is testing for pesticides, mold, bacteria, heavy metals and more. … For manufactured goods like edibles, they actually are tested multiple times.”

Craig explained that equivalent products derived from hemp are not required to go through any of those processes. “This is especially problematic because the generation of distillate used to make edibles is a concentrate,” he said. “That means not only does it concentrate psychoactive substances, but also pesticides and any other contaminants. The EPA authorizes a whole host of pesticides to be used on hemp, all of which has the potential to become unsafely concentrated in finished consumer products. All this doesn't even take into consideration other regulations, for instance those hemp-derived products are not subject to the strict packaging and labeling requirements designed to limit accidental consumption by minors.”

Hemp derived products have existed in a gray area outside of the regulatory infrastructure designed by the Department of Cannabis Regulation, Craig explained. “While we have nothing but love for our sister plant-based industry, we side with the safety of consumers first and believe this entire family of products need to be placed under the same level of scrutiny,” he said. 

Bottom line: If you intend to purchase psychoactive, hemp-derived products, be sure to check that the brand has public lab tests to ensure your safety.

Interestingly, the cannabis you can purchase at a dispensary is still technically illegal federally, whereas the hemp-derived products are legal federally under a loophole in the Farm Bill of 2018. The whole situation is a big, confuzzled mess, to say the least. For now, however, emails offering samples of new hemp-derived products flood my inbox every week, further demonstrating this trend has no sign of slowing down. Even if the executive order does go into effect in a few months, it seems most companies will simply move toward a focus on online sales, as that appears to not be affected with the way the order is currently worded. And yes, while execution of the order would be a challenge for businesses like Mighty Kind, which currently sells 80% of their products via distributors, liquor stores and bars (only about one-third of that 80% is in Missouri), the hemp-derived edibles industry will find a way forward as long as the law allows.