About a month ago legislation was proposed in Florida to regulate the hemp industry. The legislation was presented to the public as an attempt to regulate the hemp industry to protect children.

Ever since this legislation was proposed hemp entrepreneurs have been advocating the legislature, the media and the public stating their fear that these regulations would “kill Florida Hemp”. Chillum Hemp and Mushroom Dispensary certainly posted several articles on the subject and presented the dilemma to the media to garner more attention behind the subject. Our owner, Carlos Hermida, had gone up to Tallahassee to give public comment at every committee these bills were heard. However, this past Monday many hemp entrepreneurs that were advocating against these bills waved in support of them, and many cheered when the legislation passed committee.

Why does the hemp industry support these pieces of legislation now? 

The answer is simple!

Like Republican Will Robinson Jr., the House Sponsor of the bill, said:

“All caps are O.U.T., OUT!”

Originally Robinson’s bill did to main things:

1. It aimed to keep the products out of the hands of children. With provisions like making the products 21 and up and packaging rules that would make the products less desirable to children.
2. It aimed to cap the amount of Delta 8 THC in products. It would have reclassified Delta 8 THC as synthetic cannabinoid. Also, would regulate the potency of such Delta 8 THC products, putting a cap on how much Delta 8 THC could be sold per serving and per package.

In response to the bills, the industry seemed to care very little about the packaging, and even on the 21 and up age limits on the product. However, the industry did have a major backlash when it came to Delta 8 THC Caps and reclassifying Delta 8 as a synthetic cannabinoid. Several entrepreneurs in the industry got together in a grass roots effort to put pressure on the legislature to seriously reconsider the bill. Committee meeting were so packed with entrepreneurs and patients looking to give public comment to oppose the bill that speaking time was often limited to about a min. Business owners influenced their customers to call the legislature and a few heavily signed petitions were even circulated.

Chillum Mushroom and Hemp Dispensary posted several articles to our site on the subject and worked to garner media attention behind these bills.

Fortunately, this is an example of democracy working in favor of the people. The public spoke and the legislature listened. This past Monday, Robinson presented a “strike all” amendment to a house committee and has taken out Delta 8 THC caps and the reclassification of synthetic out of the bill!

We at Chillum Mushroom and Hemp Dispensary would like to thank the bill’s sponsors, Robinson in the House, and Colleen Burton in the Senate, for listening to the public and the stakeholders of the Florida hemp industry. It is now clear that you were simply working to protect children and, in the end, helped to protect the entire hemp industry as a whole!

We did it everyone! NO THC Caps on Hemp in 2023!