Hemp bill could solve medical patient dilemma
Yesterday, House Bill 4161, introduced by Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford, was referred to the Rules Committee. As reported earlier, HB4161 focuses mainly on safety concerns, including permits, licensing, testing, taxes, and a new Hemp Social Equity Fund, but HB4161 also contains amendments that would affect registered Illinois medical cannabis patients and cottage hemp operators as well.
Although grow supply stores already have been openly selling seeds and clones, especially after the passing of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill), by law, Illinois medical patients have to purchase seeds from Illinois dispensaries. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act states, “Adult registered qualifying patients may purchase cannabis seeds from a dispensary for the purpose of home cultivation. Seeds may not be given or sold to any other person.” In addition, the law states that dispensaries are prohibited from selling “clones or any other live plant material.”
HB4161 would amend these provisions by allowing licensed cottage hemp food operators to sell “directly to hemp cannabinoid users or medical patients within the State of Illinois for their own consumption and not for resale. Sales directly to consumers include, but are not limited to, sales at or through:
(1) farmers markets;
(2) fairs, festivals, public events, or online;
(3) pickup from the private home or farm of the cottage hemp food operator if the pickup is not prohibited by ordinance of the unit of local government that applies equally to all cottage food operations; in a municipality with a population of 1,000,000 or more, a cottage hemp food operator shall comply with an ordinance of the municipality that applies equally to all home-based businesses;
(4) delivery to the customer;
(5) pickup from a third-party private property with the consent of the third-party property holder; and
(6) hemp retailer establishments.”
In addition, “Hemp farms may produce live and raw hemp products. Live hemp products produced by hemp farms may only be sold and exchanged with other hemp business establishments or medical patients.” The bill defines “Live Hemp Products” as “living plants, plant cuttings, viable seeds, or tissue culture that can be used to propagate new hemp plants, that test under 0.3% THC by weight using high performance liquid chromatography or comparable technologies capable of identifying THC separately from other cannabinoids, and that may only be sold or transferred to other hemp farms or medical patients.”
Because cannabis seeds and plants in vegetative growth contain only trace amounts or no THC, the 0.3% THC threshold would apply to “Live Hemp Products,” including seeds, cuts, clones, tissue culture, and mother plants. If these amendments survive, Illinois medical patients would finally have a path toward legally purchasing “Live Hemp Products” from fully licensed cottage operators and hemp farms in Illinois. Until then, medical patients are stuck in an untenable dilemma between personal health and the law.
The fall veto session starts Oct. 24 and urns until Oct. 9. For more Illinois cannabis industry news, visit here.
To find cannabis-friendly events in Illinois, visit here.
For Illinois News Joint reviews, visit here.