Legislation spells disaster for CBD shops and gun owners, Banner Harvest owners say

A proposed law, HB1613, as worded "will make farming natural hemp the way God intended basically impossible in Florida," said Paul ImOberstag, founder, president and co-owner of Banner Harvest in Lake and Sumter counties.

The state house floor is voting this week on HB1613 which goes into effect Oct 1 regardless of what happens with a controversial recreational ballot proposal. ImOberstag has dedicated a web page to promote to help Florida residents voice their opposition to the bill.

When you talk to ImOberstag and his wife, Yolanda, who co-owns Banner Harvest, you hear in detail about natural benefits specific CBD drops, edibles and other deliveries provide, how they can help different ailments from pain to anxiety to insomnia, specific dosages, and the lengths they go to obtain and formulate organic, pure products.

The couple claims that proposed changes in state law might so severely impact their business, that it may very well put it in jeopardy.

A current campaign for new hemp-related legislation has reported around $40 million in contributions, all from Trulieve, a marijuana dispensary company that owns medical marijuana dispensaries in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is in favor of the bill in its current form. At a campaign event in Iowa in January, DeSantis said if he was elected president he would "respect the decisions that states make” on marijuana legalization, although he got some digs in on "places like California and Colorado" where he said legalization "definitely caused a negative impact on their workforce.”

Last month, a Florida House of Representatives panel approved legislation to preemptively set potency caps on recreational marijuana ahead of a potential vote, most likely happening in the coming hours, on a legalization initiative to appear on the November ballot.

The legislation, once on the ballot and voted for in November, would prohibit dispensary sales of adult-use cannabis flower with a potency of greater than 30 percent THC.

Regulations written into the measure would indeed give the medical marijuana cannabis industry an advantage, ruling out the ability of CBD care specialists that are already in business and purport to having expertise to sell full-spectrum CBD, the bread and butter of stores across the state.

Those in favor of the measure argue that the CBD industry is too unregulated, compromising the health of Florida residents.

However, business owners and care specialists like ImOberstag and established shops like SunMed franchisees promote transparency through QR codes tracing laboratory origins and are angered that measure cuts them off at the knee caps.

Opponents of the initiative include Drug Free America, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Florida Attorney General Ashley B. Moody.

In related news: Florida lawmakers are trying to cap THC in recreational pot before it's even legal

Moody filed briefs with the state supreme court in which she argued that the measure should be blocked from appearing on the ballot because the ballot summary is misleading because it fails to accurately inform voters that marijuana would be illegal under federal law.

ImOberstag, an active member of the Leesburg Area Chamber Commerce and other civic groups in central Florida, voters don't realize what they will be giving up if the ballot gets passed with its current language and restrictions.

CBD customers who own guns and want to keep their permits may no longer be able to legally own a gun and continue the same CBD care regimen, ImOberstag warns.

"The legislation as currently worded, only medical marijuana dispensaries will be able to sell full spectrum CBD products," explained ImOberstag. "That means you'll have to get a medical marijuana license and prescription to purchase federally legal full spectrum hemp products. Because marijuana is illegal according to federal law, you won't be able to legally purchase or carry a gun and, at the same time, have a medical marijuana card and purchase your favorite CBD products from a dispensary."

Full spectrum CBD is the natural whole plant or extract that contains the federally legal 0.3% or less Delta9 THC, ImOberstag explained.

"This is important because naturally the hemp plant contains over 132 cannabinoids many of which are forms of THC at very trace amounts," he elaborated. "The hemp plants we use have a 30-1 ratio of CBD to THC. We can breed for certain characteristics as well as influence the dominance of certain cannabinoids however we can not remove them."

ImOberstag said the only way to get around the proposed regulation is to alter the DNA of the plant through CRISPR gene editing (GMO). Several of the THC compounds proposed to be banned completely are naturally occurring at small amounts and may have to be gene edited as well. Delta-8 and THC-V.

"The law is written that we will still be able to sell isolated CBD. Which is a chemical process that removes everything from the extract," ImOberstag said. "We can source that from other states, it works but isn't as effective. We offer it now, but our sales are 99% full spectrum because people want the whole plant that is federally legal to get the full benefits from the plant. I believe in everything natural the way God intended. Why if something is federally legal and we have fought this battle for many years and won ... now they are doing this, here?"

ImOberstag has also written a letter to Florida legislators. In it, he writes:"HB1613, in its current wording, threatens to devastate an entire industry. It's akin to using an axe instead of a scalpel to address certain issues and loopholes, resulting in widespread collateral damage and the destruction of a thriving sector. This bill directly contradicts the Federal Farm Bill, which already outlines guidelines for hemp, specifying that it must contain 0.3% or less THC Delta9 by dry weight.

"It is important to note that all-natural hemp contains trace amounts of THC. The arbitrary milligram limits proposed in HB1613 lack sound scientific basis and will render it virtually impossible to grow hemp without resorting to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This not only limits agricultural practices but also undermines the principles of natural farming."

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Gun owners, full-spectrum CBD affected by new Fla. ballot measure