Kentucky Senate Passes Hemp Drinks Bill With Amendment Regulating, Instead Of Banning, Them

“We are treating cannabis-infused beverages exactly like we’re treating alcohol.”

By Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern

The Kentucky Senate advanced a bill Friday that would regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages but without banning their sales as first proposed.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, amended Senate Bill 202 after Republicans and Democrats alike expressed skepticism about the ban when the measure was approved by a committee earlier this week.

Adams’s floor amendment removed the temporary sales ban and would instead impose a cap of 5 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, on cannabis-derived drinks. The bill adds regulation of the intoxicating beverages to state laws that regulate alcoholic beverages, giving the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control the authority to oversee their distribution and sale.

Raque Adams said her floor amendment provided a “really solid starting point to put guardrails around this product so it doesn’t get in the hands of our children, guardrails for public health and guardrails for safety while maintaining the small business interests that we have seen across the commonwealth.”

“We are treating cannabis-infused beverages exactly like we’re treating alcohol,” Adams said.

As canned hemp-derived beverages containing THC have been gaining popularity across the country and popping up in convenience stores, state governments have increasingly sought to regulate them.

SB 202 passed the Senate by a vote of 29-6 with the minority of Democrats opposing the legislation, arguing that, while they agreed with regulating the beverages, the legislation was rushed and that senators and the public were not given enough time to understand the changes.

Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, said he worried about trying to digest large changes to the bill, noting some hemp-derived beverages have mixtures of various cannabinoids. Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, questioned the 5 milligram THC limit because she didn’t know how the THC in the beverages is absorbed compared to gummies or cannabis flower.

“I think when we’re dealing with something that is regulating an industry that is currently legal, we have to be able to hear from that industry to make sure that we’re getting these regulations correct and that there aren’t any unintended consequences,” said. Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville.

She said Adams’ bill “might be the perfect place for us to land” for regulation but that she did not have the information to know for sure.

Raque Adams used a “shell” bill as a vehicle for addressing hemp-derived beverages after the deadline for filing bills had passed. The original SB 202 made minor technical changes in the law before Raque Adams replaced its contents with her bill.

This story was first published by Kentucky Lantern.

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Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.