A proposal pending in the Illinois General Assembly could add new taxes and regulations to the sale of Delta 8.
Chris Berry from the Illinois Hemp Grower's Association says Delta 8 is currently legal at the federal level, making it more accessible to people than cannabis, also known as Delta 9.
He said this has created more competition for cannabis growers in Illinois.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, the chief sponsor of the legislation, said the regulations are necessary to prevent children from using Delta 8 products, adding the state also is losing million in potential tax revenue.
WCBU's Camryn Cutinello spoke with Berry about the attempt to regulate the cannabis derivative and why it's been getting so much attention.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
What is Delta 8 and what regulations currently exist for it?
Chris Berry: The reason why it became so popular, I think, is we look at the definition of hemp in the Farm Bill, look at what it says. I've almost memorized it by heart, but it says every single cannabinoid that comes out of hemp, that naturally occurs within the plant: isomer salts, derivatives, salts of isomers. It goes very specifically into all of the different, interesting ways in which you can play around with cannabinoids. It says all of them, every single one, is legal, except for Delta 9. And every single one is legal and then specifically exempted from the Controlled Substances Act. That's why Delta 8 became so popular, because I think people widely believed that it fits within that framework.
Do you believe regulating Delta 8 like cannabis will hurt the hemp industry in Illinois?
Berry: I'm on the side of thinking that it's going to hurt the industry in its current form. I think a lot of the push that we saw and the subsequent bill that came through HB4101, seems to be a result of a big push from the cannabis industry. It's a very dramatic space right now is what I'll say. In Illinois, especially. The drama from the cannabis industry is spilling over into the hemp industry. We have big players fighting over scraps. Like for the first couple of years, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. It was profits increasing every month, month over month for 36 straight months. You have these big players now looking at Delta 8 and saying, 'well, people are going to Delta 8 because it's cheaper, and it's way more widely available, and we haven't captured that sector of the cannabinoid ecosystem. Instead of lowering our prices or providing better customer service, what we're going to do is regulate out our competition.'
Representative Ford has said the reason he wants to regulate Delta 8 is because it's ending up in the hands of minors. Is this an issue you've seen?
Berry: I think for inhalable Delta 8 products, or any inhalable product, there should be age verification. That's state law already, right? So anything that you're going to inhale, or is meant to be inhaled either a vape or by combustion, if you go to the gas station and buy something like that a vape or a cigarette or a cigar or anything, they're going to ask you for ID. Do we need an additional law to tell them to do that? It's already on the books. So what we need to do is just classify certain products as inhalable and have them be labeled as such. And now, the law that we already have on the books applies to those too. I think for inhalable it's clear that's an issue that I think 99% of people would agree: No one under 21 should should be able to purchase an inhalable product. Now, you want to talk about edibles, that's where now we're starting to get into maybe you need some some other form of age verification.
Are there any other parts of the legislation that you agree or disagree with?
Berry: Honestly, I think that's really where they were going is just they're just getting after the intoxicating cannabinoids. For everything else, I think the the hurtful part of all of this was essentially those that were interested in killing the omnibus bill. They got what they wanted. So there was some really cool provisions in there that I think were specifically helpful, like curbside pickup and the increased canopy space for craft growers . Those are good things that help your everyday consumer and they help your small license holder have more flexibility and more opportunity.
Illinois received criticism early on for equity issues with how they were distributing cannabis licenses. Has hemp seen similar issues?
Berry: I definitely agree that it's been a problem and the pandemic hit at the same time. It was an easy excuse to say, well, we're just putting everything on hold. But essentially that shut out a lot of the people who really desperately needed to get into the industry, especially because it was they ended up calling it an essential industry, right? So the industry, those who got in early were allowed to continue to profit. And those who were still waiting on administrative things to get them in the door had to wait. That whole situation was extremely unfortunate, and I think not all of it was unavoidable. But on the hemp side, no, you were able to get a license every year. Hemp has always been the equitable solution. It's always been the fallback. Anyone who couldn't get a license in cannabis was immediately drawn to the opportunities that are in the hemp industry for them.
