Hemp Industry Leaders - Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association - Applaud Pritzker & Legislators for Wanting to Protect Children
Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association (ILHAA) commends Governor Pritzker and State Legislators for wanting to protect children and consumers, but they caution that the current proposed legislation falls short and jeopardizes small businesses. Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association calls for legislation that would include age gating, eliminate look-alike products, and standardized testing and labeling to protect children and consumers.
The bill the Governor is supporting, HB 4293, is being touted as legislation that would protect children, but in reality, it would effectively ban non-intoxicating CBD and hemp products that are federally legal.
Governor Pritzker said he was in favor of regulating intoxicating THC products, however HB 4293 goes far beyond that. This bill, as currently written, would wipe out thousands of jobs and criminalize non-intoxicating CBD products to the benefit of billion-dollar cannabis corporations. Additionally, consumer access to wellness products Illinoisans use for themselves and their pets would be drastically reduced.
Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association member Jeremy Dedic is worried the proposed legislation would put his wellness shop, Cubbington’s Cabinet, out of business. The Roscoe Village shop opened in 2020 in large part to provide a reliable source of conscientious hemp products for people and pets.
“Almost every single thing we sell would be banned due to components of the bill that were either overlooked, unfinished, or ignored,” said Dedic. “We hold the highest of standards and have been pushing for thoughtful regulation since we opened, but HB4293 throws the baby out with the bathwater. It would gut us.”
The Association urges the Governor and legislators to collaborate with industry stakeholders to safeguard children, consumers, and workers. They are asking the Governor and members of the legislature to meet with hemp industry stakeholders to better understand the fact that Illinois would stand to lose millions of dollars of revenue and thousands of jobs from the proposed legislation.
Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association believes that the job of government is to protect the health and safety of residents but this legislation puts the government in the position of picking winners and losers. It is protecting the cannabis industry at the expense of the hemp industry. Illinois needs smart and fair regulation but the proposed legislation is not that. HB 4293 would still permit online, out-of-state, or non-Illinois businesses to sell without restrictions, contributing no revenue to local communities. The Association urges the Governor and legislators to collaborate with industry stakeholders to come up with a better bill.
Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association, composed of retailers, growers, manufacturers, and distributors, calls for the implementation of sensible regulations, including age-gating and safety measures, to allow the sale of federally compliant products in local businesses. The legislation backed by Governor Pritzker would ban federally compliant, non-intoxicating full-spectrum hemp products sold at local businesses, which contribute to local economies and provide relief to veterans, seniors, and many others.
Key Issues with the Currently Proposed Legislation:
• Failure to Protect Children: The bill does not adequately prevent children from accessing intoxicating products. A JAMA study found that 11% of teens used delta-8, compared to 30% who used marijuana. The bill focuses on hemp-derived cannabinoids rather than addressing marijuana accessibility.
• Illicit Market Growth: The bill's failure to regulate online and out-of-state sales could drive the growth of an illicit market, as acknowledged during Senate debates.
• Excessive Penalties: HB 4293 imposes harsh penalties for accidental violations, including $10,000/day fines, loss of licensure, property seizures, and Consumer Fraud Act violations, with no grace period for compliance.
• Flawed Licensing Scheme: The bill's licensing system, based on the problematic cannabis model, disenfranchises minority and low-income communities.
• Technical and Scientific Flaws: The bill's errors and unscientific definitions would ban all non-intoxicating CBD products, including those for pets and cosmetics, and prohibit standard CBD processing practices.
• Unworkable Standards: Imposing a 0.3% THC limit on interim products would halt extraction processes in Illinois. The bill's product standards, limiting THC content to less than 0.5mg per serving or 2mg per package, would outlaw most current hemp products, including non-intoxicating full-spectrum CBD.
Background: The Illinois Healthy Alternatives Association fosters a thriving, sustainable, and equitable hemp industry in Illinois through outreach, education, legislative advocacy, quality standards, compliance efforts, market resources, and economic opportunities. The Association urges the Governor and legislators to collaborate with industry stakeholders to safeguard children, consumers, and workers.
