Lack of regulation, confusion over hemp-based products with THC at the heart of Arizona crackdown

Attorney General Kris Mayes and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell are moving to stop Arizona retailers from selling THC products without a license.

The issue stems from the Federal Farm Bill of 2018, which removed hemp from the definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act.

That has led to some producers getting THC from hemp and putting it into edibles and beverages. Those products have landed in alcohol distributors that don’t have marijuana licenses in Arizona.

Local cannabis attorney Laura Bianchi says those items are usually not regulated and can create confusion for law enforcement.

Reefer Growing Madness

“Within these, you know, very highly regulated programs, and then all of a sudden somebody can come in, in another state and really undercut that and say, well it because you know when the product was created, it was from hemp, it's not really marijuana, even though again, it's an intoxicating product," she said.

Bianchi says Arizona can still enforce its own laws regulating cannabis.

"They can’t tell us, ‘Arizona, you can’t have a marijuana program.’ It works the other way, too. You can't say these products are fine from a federal law perspective and then force states to accept them within our laws and programs," Bianchi said.

And to the question of whether there will be lawsuits regarding Mayes’s enforcement, Bianchi said: “I mean lawyers be lawyers.”