Politics
Missouri Governor Signs Bill To Ban Hemp THC Products In Line With Scheduled Federal Recriminalization
“Missouri needs to be a place where it’s safe to be able to have your children get access to a product that doesn’t include harmful intoxicants.”
By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) signed a bill Thursday that will take all intoxicating hemp products off the shelves starting November 12—including THC seltzers currently sold in bars and grocery stores.
The legislation largely aligns state law with the upcoming federal ban that Congress approved in November.
“If you take the House and Senate vote together, it was 151 aye and 28 nay, so you could tell it was a bipartisan vote,” Kehoe said before signing the bill. “Both chambers really worked hard to put something that eliminated the access for our children to these drugs, off of the shelves.”
Under the bill, if Congress reverses course and decides to allow the sale of these products, Missouri would only permit them in licensed marijuana dispensaries. And if Congress delays the ban for a couple years, Missouri law would still ban all products, except for intoxicating beverages.
The bill also includes provisions to protect marijuana consumer privacy and cannabis workers’ right to organize, provisions added in the state Senate.
Similar bills have been debated since 2023, but failed to pass. Without regulations, intoxicating hemp products with as much as 1,000 mg of THC are sold in smoke shops—outside of Missouri’s licensed marijuana dispensaries.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R) has been cracking down on intoxicating hemp retailers since coming into office in September, using state consumer-protection laws.
“This important piece of legislation builds upon our enforcement efforts already underway,” Hanaway said in a statement Thursday. “A storefront and a sales counter do not make an illegal drug operation into a legitimate business. We will do everything in our power to protect Missouri neighborhoods.”
The Missouri Hemp Trade Association said the bill “effectively dismantles an industry built by real Missourians who have operated in good faith under existing federal and state law,” in a statement.
Kehoe’s office received 10,000 handwritten letters last week asking him to veto the bill. The association gathered them in just 10 days from small-business owners, farmers and customers across the state.
“At the federal level, Congress is actively working on lawful framework for hemp and we believe actions like this conflict with that intent,” the association’s statement said.
The hemp association is also “actively preparing to challenge [the bill] through legal action.”
At the bill signing, Republican State Sen. David Gregory, who sponsored a similar version of the bill, held up a package that mimicked Oreo cookies.
“See right here, it looks like an Oreo package,” Gregory said, “but it actually has THC in it—marijuana and they’re labeling it as hemp.”
After holding up a THC Doritos look-alike bag, he said, “These are the kinds of things we’re putting an end to.”
Sarah Willson, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said her team has seen the harmful consequences of unregulated cannabis products after Missourians have unknowingly consumed the products, as there’s no label requirements regarding THC content.
“Even more alarming, children in Missouri and across the country have been hospitalized due to accidental ingestion,” Willson in a statement to The Independent. “This situation is unacceptable and deeply concerning, and we are thankful to see this piece of legislation come to fruition.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Dave Hinman, a Republican from O’Fallon, said the legislation gives state law enforcement and prosecutors the authority to enforce the federal hemp ban.
He said the bill “brings order to an unregulated marketplace by directly mirroring federal standards.”
The bill signing came the same day Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an order immediately placing both FDA-approved products containing marijuana and marijuana products regulated by a state medical marijuana license in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.
The move gives marijuana companies some tax relief and long-awaited recognition for the medicinal benefits their products can offer, but medical marijuana is still federally illegal.
Blanche’s order expedited the administrative hearing process to consider the broader rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, with a hearing beginning June 29.
Blanche was acting on President Donald Trump’s December executive order that also directed his administration to work with Congress to develop a framework that permits full-spectrum CBD products, which have a trace amount of THC.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rolled out an initiative that could cover $500 per year worth of hemp-derived THC of 3mg per serving and CBD products for eligible users. Those products would be illegal in Missouri under the bill Kehoe signed.
The hemp association said its members “appreciate the supportive stance” the president has taken toward hemp and full-spectrum CBD products.
“We encourage continued leadership at the federal level to ensure that federally lawful industries are not dismantled at the state level,” it states, “due to outside pressure and corrupt political interests.”
Kehoe said the bill signing was significant because Missouri lawmakers have talked about the issue for several years.
“It’s been an issue that, unfortunately, has been around our children for a long time,” he said. “Missouri needs to be a place where it’s safe to be able to have your children get access to a product that doesn’t include harmful intoxicants.”
This story was first published by Missouri Independent.
