Wisconsin’s Biggest City Adopts Rules Limiting Sales Of THC-Infused Hemp Products To Adults 21 And Older

“We should be making sure that there’s a standard for purity and potency so that it is not the wild west.”

By Benjamin Yount, The Center Square

The city of Milwaukee has new rules for THC products.

The city’s Common Council unanimously approved a new set of rules that ban anyone under 21 from buying THC gummies or other THC-laced drinks, snacks or candies.

The push comes after Alderman Peter Burgelis says a couple of children got sick after eating THC gummies.

“We started looking at this soon after a licensing committee meeting where we saw that someone had sold—a store clerk had sold—600mg of gummies to a child, actually handed them over the counter,” Burgelis added.

Marijuana remains illegal in Wisconsin, but hemp-derived THC products, including delta-8 products, are legal.

And Burgelis said, in many places in the state, those products are unregulated.

“It’s the wild, wild west for hemp THC because there is zero regulation,” Burgelis said.

There have been attempts to regulate THC and delta-8 in Wisconsin, but those efforts have stalled.

Lawmakers said in January that they are open to new THC and delta-8 regulations, but that’s not the same as an agreement on what the specifics of those regulations should look like.

“We should be making sure that there’s a standard for purity and potency so that it is not the wild west,” Sen. Chris Larson (D) told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in January.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) was a bit more specific about the hold-up.

“I think [regulations are] the wise move,” Vos said. “But I think it’s super unlikely with Democrats wanting to go in the opposite direction and legalize recreational marijuana, so we’re kind of in a quandary.”

Milwaukee’s new rules come with fines of up to $1,000 per-sale.

The city’s rules do not, however, affect THC or hemp products that do not produce a high.

This story was first published by The Center Square.