“What scares me about regulating this is that sometimes we over-regulate and we put more problems on an industry.”

By Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon

Massachusetts legislators this session are looking to take hemp-derived intoxicating products—which contain the same active ingredient as marijuana but are not regulated the same way—off shelves in gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops across Massachusetts.

The hemp products, which are generally edible and intoxicating like gummies or candies, have already been declared illegal in the state by several state agencies but continue to pop up in certain stores outside of dispensaries. Most of these products come from out of state.

Some business owners who sell the intoxicating products argue that the state agencies haven’t settled the matter because hemp is legal federally—through a loophole in the 2018 federal Farm Bill which legalized hemp. Hemp and marijuana are the same plant, but this law removed hemp from the classification of marijuana as long as it contains less than 0.3 percent THC— the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis—by volume.

Four bills have been filed on Beacon Hill to bring any consumable hemp-derived products like edibles, concentrates, tinctures, oils and capsules, under the purview of the Cannabis Control Commission or give local boards of health oversight to remove these products from stores other than dispensaries. Hemp products that are sold in dispensaries like CBD gummies are already regulated by the commission. These bills would specifically target intoxicating products being sold outside of dispensaries.

“[Hemp products] face no additional tax impositions, no host community agreements, no recall process, no FDA testing requirements, no age limits,” said Rep. Dawne Shand, a Newburyport Democrat, at a Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy hearing on Wednesday. “The intoxicating hemp industry makes a mockery of cannabis laws.”

Shand, a member of the committee, is pushing a bill that would prohibit intoxicating hemp products from being sold without an endorsement from the Cannabis Control Commission.

Rep. Michael Soter, a Republican from Bellingham, has two bills that would address hemp-derived products.

The fourth bill, presented by Rep. James C. Arena-DeRosa (D), imposes an excise tax on the sale of hemp products in addition to the existing state tax and directs that money to be used to empower local health board to remove certain hemp products from stores.

“I think [hemp] should be up to the control of the Cannabis Control Commission,” said Soter, in an interview before the hearing. “You’ve got people who are following the rules…and then you’ve got some things that are kind of being sold in convenience stores and gas stations. Some of this stuff is really geared towards kids, and that’s not a good thing.”

Soter emphasized that he wants to be very careful in creating legislation to deal with hemp products because he doesn’t want to inadvertently harm businesses that sell non-intoxicating hemp products, like oils or creams that contain CBD and are meant to be applied topically.

“What scares me about regulating this is that sometimes we over-regulate and we put more problems on an industry,” said Soter. “We’ve got to walk that fine line. I want to keep us on a straight path of going after what we need to go after and what we don’t need to go after and make sure when we do this regulation, we do it correctly.”

At the hearing, Jesse Alderman, a lawyer who specializes in cannabis, and Peter Gallagher, the CEO of the cannabis company INSA, brought a bag of intoxicating hemp products that they said they collected from over 20 different gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops.

Many of these products had high concentrations of THC. One of the packages contained 10,000 milligrams of THC. For cannabis, the state allows only 100 milligrams per package and 5 milligrams per serving.

They passed the bag around to the legislators, who commented that the products smelled like cannabis.

“If it smells like it, looks like it, I think it is it,” said Adam Gomez, the Senate chair of the cannabis committee.

Gallagher said that they tested these products and that over 90 percent of them would qualify as cannabis products because they contained well over 0.3 percent THC. About a third of the products wouldn’t have passed the regulatory testing required on cannabis products because of the presence of microbes, pesticides, heavy metals and residual solvents. None of the establishments where he purchased the hemp products checked for identification to enforce age limits, he added.

“This really looks a lot like what we saw in 2019 with the vape crisis where illegal, unregulated, untested vape cartridges [were] being sold with cutting agents in them and [that] ultimately led to people harming themselves,” said Gallagher. “A lot of consumers today don’t understand that what’s being purchased in these gas stations, convenience stores, vape shops or even online is different and potentially more damaging than what you’re able to purchase in the regulated dispensaries.”

In Massachusetts, several state agencies issued guidance in May 2024 that said that these types of products are illegal. The Alcohol Beverage Control Commission warned its licensees that their licenses could be suspended or revoked if they were caught selling hemp-derived products.

Soon after, many of these products were taken out of liquor stores, smoke shops, restaurants and many other places that were selling them. But the crackdown on these products has remained uneven because the enforcement on these products has largely remained in the hands of local boards of health, which are already overburdened and don’t have the resources to go from store to store.

Last session, legislators decided not to intervene on the issue of hemp-derived products, but representatives of local boards of health said that they are unable to get these products out of stores and out of the hands of children without more resources allocated to them for this issue.

John Nathan, the CEO of a company called Bay State Extracts, which produces hemp-derived compounds like CBD, said that the legislation proposed at the hearing would be redundant because these products—as per the guidance from the state agencies—are already illegal. He also expressed concern about the Cannabis Control Commission’s ability to actually regulate hemp products effectively. The commission has had internal conflict, allegations of misconduct and a slow-moving regulatory process that has frustrated many within the cannabis industry.

“The CCC has barely enforced their existing hemp regulations and guidance is as it stands,” said Nathan. “The cannabis industry is in turmoil. There’s over saturation, struggles for bill payments, layoffs, competitive and low-paying job market, what seems like monthly closures. I feel effort should be directed towards supporting the existing market and coordinating to fix these issues, rather than disrupting the supply chain in an effort to make something already illegal illegal again.”

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Using Marijuana Reduces Alcohol Cravings In People Who Drink A Lot, Federally Funded Study Shows

California’s licensed alcohol establishments are no longer selling intoxicating hemp products in near-universal compliance with the state’s prohibition policies implemented last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced May 8.

The governor issued emergency regulations in September 2024 to require that industrial hemp food, beverage and dietary products intended for human consumption have no detectable THC or other intoxicating cannabinoids derived from the plant, such as delta-8 THC infused into edibles and beverages.

The regulations, intended to prevent children from accessing the products, also created a minimum age of 21 years to purchase nonintoxicating hemp products, such as those that contain CBD.

After the California Office of Administrative Law approved the governor’s emergency regulations later that month, they were adopted by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), making hemp-derived THC products illegal.

Following that September 2024 adoption, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) began visiting licensed alcohol establishments within its jurisdiction to enforce the law, inspecting 11,445 businesses and removing 7,151 prohibited products from 148 locations, according to the governor’s office.

However, since the beginning of 2025, the ABC reported that licensed alcohol establishments have been 99.7% compliant with the regulations—16 violations during 5,478 site visits. ABC businesses that fail to comply with the law face license revocations as well as potential legal ramifications.

“Our licensees have overwhelmingly complied with the regulation,” ABC Chief Deputy Director Frank Robles said Thursday. “On the few occasions when ABC agents found items during inspections, they’ve ensured these harmful products are removed from shelves.”

Despite its agents finding a near-universal compliance so far in 2025, the department will continue to visit licensed locations throughout the state to enforce the regulations, providing weekly updates of violations.

Although licensed liquor stores don’t allow those under 21 to enter their establishments, Newsom said their compliance helps ensure intoxicating cannabinoid products don’t end up in the hands of the state’s youth.

“We are doing our part to ensure intoxicating hemp products are out of the reach of vulnerable groups like children,” Newsom said. “We must always put the safety of Californians first.”

The regulations don’t impact licensed cannabis dispensary sales, which include intoxicating compounds derived from the same plant species; however, licensed cannabis businesses operate under a framework that requires laboratory testing with certificates of analysis on product labels to help ensure consumer safety from harmful contaminants.

On the other hand, in the aftermath of the 2018 Farm Bill, which federally legalized hemp, manufacturers have “exploited the law,” according to Newsom’s office, to produce and market intoxicating hemp products without the same safeguards in place.

These products are often sold in unlicensed retail establishments, including smoke and vape shops, gas stations and convenience stores. The governor’s office did not include an update on the compliance rates for these unlicensed businesses.

In addition to the ABC, other state agencies and officials are expected to take enforcement actions against those who violate Newsom’s prohibition policies, including the CDPH, the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and state and local law officers.

President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next U.S. surgeon general is a proponent of psychedelic medicine—and she’s been public about her own experience benefiting from psilocybin. But she also evidently believes marijuana is harmful and should be avoided.

Casey Means, a doctor and author, has been selected to serve as surgeon general after Trump’s prior pick, Janette Nesheiwat, was withdrawn from consideration.

As top officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are working to advance psychedelic therapy, the president’s latest selection to be the nation’s top doctor has made clear she’s on board—including writing about her own journey with psilocybin in a book she published last year.

One week prior to learning about her mother’s terminal diagnosis, Means said she used so-called magic mushrooms “on the ground in the desert as the sun was going down.”

“At the time, I didn’t know consciously what I was preparing for, but as I basked in the moon’s bright rays, I experienced the embodiment of being one with the moon, every star, every atom in the grains of sand I was sitting on, and my mother in an inextricable and unbreakable chain of universal connectedness for which the human concept of ‘death’ was no match,” she said in her 2024 book “Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health.”

“In that moment I was certain there was no separation between any of it,” she said. “I felt myself as part of an infinite and unbroken series of cosmic nesting dolls of millions of mothers and babies before me from the beginning of life.”

“If you feel called, I also encourage you to explore intentional, guided psilocybin therapy. Strong scientific evidence suggests that this psychedelic therapy can be one of the most meaningful experiences of life for some people, as they have been for me.

If the word psychedelics makes you cringe, I used to be in your position. I spent my childhood and young adult life being extremely judgmental about the use of any type of drug. But I became interested in plant medicine and psychedelics after learning more about their extensive traditional use, analyzing the groundbreaking research… Our brains are profoundly suffering in modern society right now, and I believe that anything that can safely increase neuroplasticity and ground us in more gratitude, awe, connection, and a sense of cosmic safety should be taken very seriously.”

In several blog posts on her website, Means talked about “plant medicine,” specifically psilocybin, as one of “the modalities I’ve gone deepest in,” in addition to therapy, reading, writing, yoga and more.

In one post she describes “a two-year journey of therapy, spiritual inquiry, plant medicine, and exploration of my femininity which would enable me to turn over every possible stone of my life—from birth until present—and work to structure a new relationship with each ‘trigger’ and maladaptive pattern in my life.”

“I did plant medicine experiences with trusted guides and wrote extensively about my experience and insights. 🍄”

In another post Means says that “some of the childhood wounds I worked through in therapy and with plant medicine revolved around a past need to prove my loveability through achievement and impact—a common theme for many. In healing those wounds through hard work and re-integration of past experiences, the need for proof of impact has lessened.”

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Means’s brother, Calley, “had a vision of dedicating his life to reforming healthcare after a high dose of the psychedelic drug psilocybin.”

Despite her advocacy for psychedelic medicine, however, the prospective surgeon general has expressed opposition to marijuana, saying in her book that people who use cannabis, as well as tobacco products, should “stop these completely.”

“They will hurt your mitochondria and vastly diminish your ability to make Good Energy,” she said.

“There has always been suffering in the world, but now we can see exponentially more of it than ever, all at once, on screens we hold in our beds and at the dinner table. In response, modern humans have looked for salvation and coping anywhere we can get a hit of dopamine-fueled ‘pleasure’ and distraction: things like processed sugar, alcohol, soda, refined carbs, vapes, cigarettes, weed, porn, dating apps, email, texts, casual sex, online gambling, video games, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and the relentless novelty of experiences.”

“The impact of our modern psychological reality—and the unhealthy coping mechanisms—is that our cells’ ability to produce Good Energy is dimmed, creating a vicious cycle that robs us of the full potential of our human experience,” she continued.

A post about having a healthy holiday season passes along advice to “reduce or eliminate alcohol and cannabis consumption,” quoting another author who says that “my willpower becomes zero otherwise.”

In another blog post, she reiterated her position that marijuana is among the addictions she views as reflecting “our spiritual emptiness,” preventing people from “being able to go within, connect with God, and experience the bliss that come from this.”

“The dopamine cycles we’re addicted to are a reflection of our spiritual emptiness. We are untethered to meaning; looking for pleasure, forgetting that we are miracles who can access bliss at any moment by connecting with God. The sugar, alcohol, soda, refined carbs, vapes, cigarettes, weed, porn, dating apps, email, texts, casual sex, online gambling, video games, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and the relentless novelty of experiences are a reflection of not being able to go within, connect with God, and experience the bliss that come from this. [Tens] of thousands of scientists and marketing experts spend their lives and their gifts figuring out how to addict us to dopamine-releasing foods and experiences. It is astoundingly cynical. It crushes our Good Energy.”

Means apparently doesn’t view the cannabis plant as all bad, however, as she described hemp in her book as among the “best plant-based sources” of nutrition—including protein, omega-3, antioxidants and fiber. She also shared recipes featuring hemp seed, including a “Southwestern Tofu Scramble” and “Creamy Cauliflower and Celery Root Puree.”

In a post about a seafood company, she said some of the business’s parter farms “even grow cannabis, duckweed or watercress as part of their filtration matrix,” which she described as “functional plants doubling as habitat, medicine or food.”

Means’s advocacy for psychedelics is part of something of a theme of the Trump administration, with various key officials and aligned Republican lawmakers pushing for psychedelics reform as cannabis seems to take a backseat—despite the president’s endorsement of rescheduling and industry banking access on the campaign trail.

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers on Wednesday asked Trump’s head of VA to meet with them to discuss ways to provide access to psychedelic medicine for military veterans.

VA Secretary Doug Collins, a former GOP congressman, has been vocal about his interest in exploring psychedelics therapy—including in a recent Cabinet meeting with Trump.

Collins has previously said he had an “eye-opening” talk with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about psychedelics issues and intended to press Congress to act.

Kennedy himself recently spoke about a “wonderful experience” he had tripping on LSD as a teen.

Meanwhile, Trump’s former nominee for surgeon general—physician and Fox News correspondent Janette Nesheiwat—has said that she’s “all for” the use of medical cannabis for certain conditions.

While Nesheiwat’s stance on broader reform was unclear, her social media posts and media appearances signaled that she was at least supportive of allowing access to medical marijuana for patients with conditions like seizure disorders or cancer. However, she also promoted research linking cannabis smoking to cardiovascular issues.

Pennsylvania Governor Will Put Marijuana Legalization In His Budget, But Top GOP Senator Remains Skeptical

Photo courtesy of Dick Culbert.