Why Illinois lawmakers are considering a ban on product known as 'diet weed'

For a substance known commonly as "diet weed" on the market, it’s surprising to know just how easy it is for anyone to walk into a gas station and pick up a product laden with delta-8 THC, an intoxicant derived from hemp.

Delta-8 is considered to create clear-headed highs without the anxiety and paranoia which comes from other cannabis products like delta-9.

Under Illinois state law, to purchase delta-8 users must be at least 21, but a recently released Keck School of Medicine study found more than 11% of U.S. 12th graders used psychoactive delta-8 THC in 2023.

It is with these lack of regulations that the state legislature is considering a crackdown on the sale of these products. Through Senate Bill 3926, businesses that sell delta-8 or other unregulated hemp-derived products would face a $10,000 fine.

Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, a supporter of the legislation said during a recent news conference the proliferation of delta-8 — often packaged similarly to food products — has created confusion among consumers while putting them at-risk.

“Without proper oversight, consumers are left vulnerable to a myriad of risks from unknowingly consuming products with inaccurate THC levels to encountering harmful contaminants,” Villanueva, D-Chicago, said.

More: Springfield convenience stores found to be selling unauthorized vaping products

Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, an industry lobbying group, has taken notice of the lax regulation of hemp-derived substances and is backing the legislation. Comparing the still new substances on the market to the hoops and regulations dispensaries must go through to have a license – the association is calling for action for the intoxicating substance to have the same protocols marijuana does.

Chris Stone, who founded and owns Springfield's only locally owned dispensary, Share, says it would be nice to see delta-8 products and the producers under similar regulation as the regulated cannabis industry. Stone also said if delta-8 is not regulated, it could become an epidemic.

“Cannabis is cannabis, and people have been able to extract the psychoactive parts of the plant,” Stone told The State Journal-Register. “Whether it be from hemp or regulated cannabis; being able to put that into a product and then offer that to 10-year-olds is one, ill advised by the retailer and two, definitely a public safety issue.”

Tiffany Ingram, executive director of Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, believes licensed dispensaries like Share and four others located in Springfield are effectively undercut by the unregulated and untaxed sale of delta-8.

The bill looks to bring more cannabis businesses into the arena, including those currently selling delta-8 by creating 50 new conditional adult-use dispensing organization licenses and another 50 new licenses for cannabis infusers.

That means the sale of these products would be subject to state and local taxes, adding to the $417 million the state collected in cannabis sales tax revenue in 2023 alone.

“It’s not a competition, frankly,” Ingram recently said during a news conference. “It’s basically a way to destroy the cannabis industry.”

Impact on hemp industry

For hemp-based manufacturer and marketer Prairie State Hemp, the bill would ban and kill the still budding industry of hemp infused with Cannabidiol, the competitor to dispensaries.

Prairie State Hemp in Springfield sells a wide variety of delta-8 products from gummies to oil which are batch-tested by third party labs which list the nutrition facts in a certificate of analysis.

“This bill is a giant combination of fearmongering that the cannabis industry has created to try to lessen their competition,” Prairie State Hemp founder Sam Brubaker said. “There is no public health crisis, there is no scares, it is all a fabricated fear mongering tactic.”

Brubaker agrees more regulations should be put in place: retail licensing similar to tobacco products to the marketing and regulation of product packaging, which can be misleading and disproportionately target minors.

“Everything should be labeled with a QR code you can scan that takes you to the website of the manufacturer and the tests,” Brubaker said. “My (view) would be to issue a cease and desist to all of these companies that are making stuff that looks ok to kids.”

More: Pritzker 'not sure' if new Bears multibillion dollar stadium a priority for taxpayers

Likelihood of the legislation passing?

How quickly lawmakers act on the legislation remains unclear, but it has been met with mixed reception among Democrats.

Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, tried to advance legislation last year regulating delta-8 products, outlawing the sale to those 21 and younger while also taxing them and similarly adding a new class of licenses for hemp businesses. He and Sen. Lakesia Collins, D-Chicago, said an outright ban does not make sense.

“We don’t want to regulate thousands of current businesses out of existence,” Collins said in a statement. “We want regulation, not termination, when jobs and opportunity are at stake, especially in Black and brown communities.”

If the bill passes however, Brubaker warns the hemp industry would meet an inflection point — unable to sell infused hemp until the ban or pause ends.

“My question is… what am I supposed to do?” he said. “As a wholesaler and retailer who has products in thirty different stores across the state, what am I supposed to do when the bill is passed effective immediately?”

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

Contact Patrick M. Keck: 312-549-9340, pkeck@gannett.com, twitter.com/@pkeckreporter.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois lawmakers consider ban on delta-8, known as 'diet weed'