California Governor Signs Bill To Integrate Hemp And Marijuana Markets After Banning Intoxicating Cannabinoids Outside Of Dispensaries

The governor of California has signed a bill to integrate intoxicating hemp products into the state’s existing marijuana market—an attempt to consolidate the cannabis industry and prevent youth access to unregulated hemp.

After the legislation from Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) passed the Senate last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed it into law on Thursday.

“We are continuing to place the safety of every Californian first,” Newsom said. “For too long, nefarious hemp manufacturers have been exploiting loopholes to make their intoxicating products easily available to our most vulnerable communities—that stops today.”

This follows the governor’s emergency order last year that outright prohibited hemp products with any trace amounts of THC from being sold, which industry stakeholders warned would devastate the marketplace.

Under the newly signed bill, intoxicating hemp products that meet certain regulatory requirements would be able to be sold at licensed cannabis retailers with age restrictions and testing rules. But it’s unclear how that might ameliorate the hemp industry’s concerns, when adults and patients go to a store with the option to buy a broader array of marijuana products.

“Bad actors have abused state and federal law to sell intoxicating hemp products in our State. As the author of legislation that allowed the legal sale of non-intoxicating hemp CBD products, this is absolutely unacceptable,” Aguiar-Curry said. “AB 8 is a result of years of collaboration with this Administration, and I appreciate the Governor’s signature.”

“Our first job is to protect our kids and our communities,” she said. “With this bill, we’ll have responsible regulation, increase enforcement, and support struggling legal cannabis businesses against criminal competition.”

Nicole Elliott, director of the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), said the legislation represents “a critical step forward for California’s cannabis industry and for consumer safety.”

“By closing loopholes around intoxicating hemp products and bringing them under the same strict rules as cannabis, this legislation protects consumers, ensures fair competition for licensed businesses, and strengthens the integrity of our regulated marketplace,” she said. “AB 8 makes it clear that all intoxicating products must be held to the same important standards Californians expect.”

The key provisions of the law take effect in January 2028, mandating that consumable hemp products with cannabinoids other that CBD must comply with the state’s current medical and recreational marijuana laws.

A Senate analysis of the bill released last month said the measure would ban the sale of “synthetic cannabis products and inhalable cannabis products containing cannabinoids derived from hemp,” place restrictions on incorporating raw hemp extracts into foods and beverages and expand “the authority for state and local enforcement agencies to inspect, seize, and destroy unlawful cannabis products.”

This all follows Newsom announcing emergency regulations last year to outlaw hemp products with any “detectable amount of total THC.” Under that move, hemp products that don’t have THC are also limited to five servings per package, and sales are restricted to adults 21 and older.

The proposal came less than a month after the state legislature effectively killed a governor-backed bill that would have imposed somewhat similar restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids.

All told, the newly enacted legislation represents a major paradigm shift in California hemp policy at a time when multiple states, as well as Congress, are considered similar restrictive changes to cannabis laws since hemp was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

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In Texas, for example, an effort to ban hemp products with THC failed in the legislature for a second time over the summer during a special session—after the Republican governor vetoed an initial version of the proposal.  However, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) did subsequently sign an emergency order to impose age and labeling restrictions on consumable hemp.

The head of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) has since pushed back against a GOP senator’s “incorrect assertions” about the state’s regulatory compliance with federal hemp laws. But he’s also signaling that changes may be coming to measure “total THC” to determine the legality of hemp products in a way that some stakeholders worry could negatively impact the industry.

At the congressional level, bipartisan House lawmakers recently criticized attempts to ban hemp THC products, arguing that it would “deal a fatal blow” to the industry and, as currently included in a spending bill, violates congressional rules. To that end, the members say there are plans in the works to introduce an alternative measure to regulate the market.

Dozens of hemp farmers from Kentucky also recently urged their state’s senior U.S. senator, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to back off from his push to recriminalize some products that are derived from their crops.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), for his part, recently cautioned that the cannabis policy movement has “swung hard on the prohibitionist side” amid the ongoing debate over intoxicating hemp products. And he worries that, if things go awry, the hemp market could be decimated “within the next two weeks.”

Asked about recent conversations with McConnell and Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), Paul said “we’ve been working diligently” with the staff “trying to reach a compromise.”

Meanwhile, back in California, the governor has signed legislation to delay a marijuana tax hike for three years.

Newsom, in keeping with his recent parody of President Donald Trump’s social media style, separately joked on Wednesday that he’s assuming the role of “leader of the free world” in light of the federal government shutdown—and part of his platform will be to legalize marijuana.

Image element courtesy of Gage Skidmore.