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Gretchen Cirwithian can continue visiting Botana Organics, her favorite CBD store, to buy gummies, creams and other items she uses to help relieve anxiety, body aches and insomnia.
Cirwithian, who doesn’t drink alcohol, also can keep getting cannabis-infused drinks that give her a mild buzz from the shop north of Wilmington.
At least for now.
That’s because a state lawmaker seeking to put strict regulations on sales of hemp-based products with low and legal levels of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — has abandoned her efforts to pass a bill before the General Assembly adjourns for the year in two weeks.
That’s because a state lawmaker seeking to put strict regulations on sales of hemp-based products with low and legal levels of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — has abandoned her efforts to pass a bill before the General Assembly adjourns for the year in two weeks.
Two WHYY News stories last week chronicled the two major and controversial components of the bill introduced in May by state Rep. Deborah Heffernan, and the complaints from CBD store owners, customers and marijuana advocates.
One section would have restricted the sale of hemp products with any THC at all to the state’s 30 authorized retail marijuana stores, none of which have opened nearly two years and three months after state lawmakers legalized weed for adults age 21 and older.
The second provision in the bill would have allowed only liquor stores to sell the cannabis-infused, nonalcoholic beverages that are now available in those stores as well as restaurants, bars, CBD stores, smoke shops and gas stations.
After ending their work June 30, state lawmakers won’t be back in session until January.
“While I still believe in the importance of increasing safety testing and ensuring age verification for cannabinoid intoxicating products, I believe that further and wider conversations need to be had with business owners in this area and our new marijuana commissioner,” Heffernan said in a statement she posted on her legislative Facebook page.