A new law in Iowa governing hemp products has drawn complaints from local brewers and retailers, with some even threatening legal action.
The measure, which was passed by Hawkeye State lawmakers in April and signed into law by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds last month, “prohibits the sale and possession of consumable hemp products that contain greater than 4 mg total THC per serving and greater than 10 mg total THC per container within the state of Iowa.”
As the state’s Department of Health and Human Services explains, Iowa’s medical cannabis program, which launched in 2018, “allows individuals with certain eligible conditions to access medical cannabis at five retail dispensaries,” as well as “the use of medical cannabis in four forms: oral (including tinctures, capsules, sublingual, and tablets), topical (including creams and gels), inhaled forms (including vaporized), and suppositories.”
But as the Des Moines Register points out, the proposed rules written by the department define “closed-container beverage” as “one serving per container — meaning every beverage with a potency of more than 4 mg of total THC would be banned from sale.”
According to the newspaper, local brewers in Iowa “argue that’s not what the law intended, and they warned that the rules could mean major cuts to their products,” and a “major manufacturer said if a resolution was not reached, it would consider legal action.”
“Only one of our products would be compliant, and we would lose products that account for about 80% of our sales,” Lua Brewing and Big Grove Brewery CEO Dave Moore told the Des Moines Register. “We would also have a very large inventory of finished goods and packaging materials that would no longer be usable. This ruling would have severe financial implications to our business.”
Moore’s brewing companies sell a THC-infused beverage that he says would be …
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Author: Thomas Edward / High Times
