Arkansas attorney general, others petition Washington lawmakers to tighten restrictions on hemp, Delta-8
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As lawmakers in Washington look ahead to the next Farm Bill, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and more than a dozen other attorneys general across the country are urging Congress to take a closer look at hemp-derived products like Delta-8.
The group of attorneys wrote a letter to Congress arguing that the current federal law is resulting in harmful products being sold across the nation with no age restrictions. The attorneys general would like to see more clarity when it comes to industrial hemp in the next Farm Bill, and ultimately leave the issue up to the states.
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In Arkansas, there is already a legal battle over the state legislature’s effort to ban these products altogether through a bill that became law in the 2023 session. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the law in September, allowing the sales to continue in the meantime while we await a permanent decision. Griffin is currently appealing the preliminary injunction.
The attorney suing the state over the law, Abtin Mehdizadegan, argues his Arkansas-based clients have never sold the products to kids or gas stations that do. He said he and the plaintiffs agree there needs to be more regulation, protecting kids from purchasing the products, but not a ban altogether.
“This is not really a risk as much as it is an opportunity to go back in 2025 when the legislature goes into session and pass a regulatory bill,” Mehdizadegan said. “If you’re concerned about children getting these products, that does that. That prohibits those sales. No one’s going to fight that.”
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Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward agreed with Griffin and the other attorneys general in the letter that the products need to be banned, adding that this would have little impact on the state’s leading industry: agriculture.
“Less than 10 acres are devoted to industrial hemp in the state of Arkansas,” Ward said.
Ward compared this to soybeans, which take up more than three million acres in the state, or rice, taking more than one million acres.
“”If growers are growing industrial hemp for its intended authorized purpose— for fiber and those purposes where there’s an authorized use for, we’ve got no problem with it,” Ward said. “That’s why Congress authorized, it it’s why Arkansas authorized it. It’s when people take those products and do things that’re unregulated and potentially harmful for kids in particular.”
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According to the FDA, there have been reports of adverse consequences in patients consuming Delta-8 products since the 2018 Farm Bill passed. This includes hallucinations, vomiting, tremors, anxiety, dizziness, confusion and loss of consciousness. In 2020, the FDA reported a pediatric death as a result of the product use.
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