Two local businesses have teamed up to gather signatures for a petition to stop the state legislature from banning THC products in Virginia.
THC is the cannabinoid that’s generally responsible for the “high” feeling of euphoria in marijuana, while CBD is generally the one credited with pain relief and sleepiness. Both are sold, separately, in hemp products infused with either one, such as “edibles” like hard candies, chocolates, cereals, snacks and baked goods.
Mount Joy Naturals and N2U, both in Galax, sell CBD and Delta-8 products. However, SB 591 would ban sales of anything that contains more than 0.3% or .25 milligrams of THC per serving, or more than 1 milligram per package. The definition includes both natural and synthetic products, like edibles infused with Delta-8, which is derived from industrial hemp.
The ban would be in effect until recreational marijuana sales are legalized, which in Virginia is currently scheduled for 2024.
SB 591, proposed by Sen. Emmett Hanger (R-Augusta), is currently on Gov. Youngkin’s desk, having passed successfully through the state Senate and House of Delegates.
As of last week, Mount Joy Naturals estimated it had collected about 280 signatures for the petition, while N2U estimated about 1,500.
The petition for Gov. Glenn Youngkin to veto the bill states that it “narrows the exceptions for hemp in the definition of ‘marijuana,’ sets arbitrary and ultra-restrictive THC concentration limits per serving, and would make Virginia the first state in the country to impose milligram limits by statute, instead of through deliberative, science-focused rule-making.”
The petition asks the governor to consider that, “Hemp is not marijuana. Hemp-derived CBD is neither ‘medical’ nor ‘marijuana.’ While both hemp and marijuana are members of the cannabis family, they are uniquely distinctive plants, much like lemons and oranges are both citrus fruits.”
As explained in the petition, “Hemp products do not produce a psychoactive ‘high.’ By scientific and legal definition, hemp is an agricultural commodity that does not contain more than 0.3% of the intoxicant THC.”
The ban could have a negative effect on the economy, the petition says. “Restrictive regulatory requirements are an excessive burden, stifle the free market, and deprive Virginia citizens of beneficial products. Hemp and hemp products provide needed opportunity for hemp farmers and small businesses in Virginia that are struggling in today’s difficult agricultural and retail economies. This will destroy the local hemp/CBD market in Virginia, along with thousands of hemp farmers and small businesses in Virginia.”
Daquan Sutfin of Mount Joy — son of (and co-owner with) Janice and Joseph Sutfin — spoke to The Gazette about the bill and what it might do to their business and others.
“This bill... would shut down all the CBD mom and pop shops that are in Virginia, but also all the farmers who grow the CBD and the hemp would also be without jobs,” he said. “It would completely destroy this industry and it would force most of the local people here to go elsewhere.”
He continued, “For instance, we would have to go to either North Carolina or Maryland or someplace where we wouldn’t be home. This is our home, this is where we grew up, this is where we want to be. We want to help out Virginia as much as we can... All the tax revenues and everything would go to other states instead of our home state.”
Sutfin also felt that, while keeping an eye on who sells THC products is a good idea, it’s not smart to punish businesses who are savvy about manufacturing THC products.
“We don’t think you should be able to go to the gas stations and vape shops where it’s not regulated, you don’t know who’s making it or where it comes from, so we’re all for regulating it more,” he said, “but with this bill, it’s going to completely shut it down. It’s not going to regulate it. And we don’t think it’s fair for people like us who get it tested, know where it’s coming from, make it ourselves, know what’s in it. It’s just completely shutting us out.”
At N2U, “bud-tender” Wes Cole and clerk Jen Bobbitt had opinions to share on the bill, as well.
“What we have here in this shop is undeniably medicine,” Cole said. “We have various different cannabinoids, many of which don’t get people high at all. They serve no recreational purpose, and by this coming through, it’s going to control the concentration that we get to carry.”
He continued, “Some of our sleep gummies are for people who suffer from chronic insomnia, and they just take two gummies a night. With this new regulation, they would have to take 20 gummies or more to have a similar effect.”
(It’s worth noting that, while the petition states that the products are not “medical,” the shops sometimes refer to their products as “medicine.” The former definition seems to refer to the fact that they aren’t classified as a prescription medication regulated by the government, the latter to the fact that they do have regular beneficial physical effects for many of their customers. It’s also worth noting that this doesn’t seem like an intended deception, but more like a passionate lay interpretation of the effects.)
The bill could potentially affect some of the CBD products N2U sells, said Bobbitt. “Not that they contain any THC, but the low limit of THC is even below the .3% that is nationally accepted under the farm bill. Virginia is asking for less than .25% THC content.”
In other words, anyone looking for relief would need to buy, and take, fistfuls of gummies instead of one or two, to get the same effect.
“Basically it just strips down our ability to get to our clients different cannabinoids that they can use for all the different maladies that they might have,” said Cole. “And that’s taking freedom of choice away from our customers.”
“We are all for regulation! It absolutely requires regulation,” Bobbitt said. “There’s no need for huge milligrams per package, and packaging should not cater to youth. We don’t want to bring a young crowd in, that’s not our goal. But they have introduced this bill under the guise of regulation, but really it’s not. It’s prohibition.”
Both businesses say that their average customer is over 40 and looking for pain relief, anxiety relief and insomnia relief, not a recreational high — someone trying to find a way to maintain their responsibilities, not avoid them.
Indeed, during visits to both stores, a steady stream of customers comes in, smiling and chatting and asking questions. All of them apparently fit the described demographic.
It’s not clear how either store, or similar small businesses in Virginia, will fare in the shortfall period between SB 591 passing and the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2024, if it comes to pass.