New state rules regulating hemp products have gone into effect this week.
According to Iowa Hemp Alliance spokesperson Theresa Harms, between 50 and 80% of the products at the businesses who’ve joined the group are prohibited under the new regulations. “Producers and retailers of consumable hemp products will now be forced to dispose of a substantial portion of their inventory,” Harms said, “even though these products are currently permitted at the federal level.”
Harms, who testified this week at a statehouse hearing, said the state regulations conflict with federal limits outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill and were not fully revealed to the public until this week.
In mid-May Governor Reynolds signed the law to limit the amount of THC — the ingredient that causes the high — that can be in consumable hemp products sold in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services rules have a per serving limit is four milligrants of THC. Hemp retailers say that limit is not in the law and they’ve sued.
Scott Selix, co-founder of a company that makes the hemp infused “Climbing Kites” beverage, said 90% of his products are now illegal in Iowa, he’s had to pull them out of hundreds of Iowa stores and the warning labels the agency will require in September weren’t revealed until Tuesday.
“We would tell the department all of this if they would just respond. Every time we reach out and say: ‘Please don’t do this. Please listen to us.” They say: ‘No, there’s ongoing litigation,'” Selix said. “And we’re saying: ‘We’re only litigating because you’re not listening.'”
Climbing Kites had been brewed in Des Moines, but operations have been moved to Illinois and Ohio to avoid the risk of arrest, since violating the new law would be a felony.
“We are the fastest growing hemp manufacturing company in the country,” Selix told legislators. “We’re an Iowa company. I own Iowa restaurants and breweries. I invest in real estate in Des Moines, but I can’t keep this company here.”
Four Democrats on the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee voted this week to delay the regulations, but majority Republicans on the panel agreed to let the state’s new hemp rules take effect immediately.