The proposal would have permitted hemp growers to sell plants to cannabis processors to extract into THC to then use in products sold in the licensed cannabis market, such as edibles, vapes, and tinctures, MLive reported. Any hemp-derived THC product sold would have been required to be labeled as such.
But consumer safety concerns were the main driver to withdraw the proposal.
“After receiving a significant amount of public comment regarding safety concerns and the lack of scientific and public health data related to the conversion process outlined in the proposed industrial hemp rules ... the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) has withdrawn this request for rulemaking,” CRA officials announced Friday. CRA was formerly the Marijuana Regulatory Agency.
Denise Pollicella, founder and managing partner at the Cannabis Attorneys of Michigan, also argued that existing producers would not be able to compete with the out-of-state companies producing low-cost hemp to sell in the Michigan cannabis market, MLive reported.
“The industrial hemp portion of this was never going to come from Michigan,” she said. “Michigan can’t compete with Kentucky and North Carolina on hemp. They’ve got a year-round growing season that we don’t have. They have 100,000-acre hemp farms that we don’t have in Michigan.”
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