RICHMOND, Va. — On July 1, 2023, a slate of sweeping changes to the hemp industry took effect in Virginia amid a crackdown to better regulate hemp-derived products and consumer goods in the state.
Hemp, while similar in look to marijuana, tests below 0.3% Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol. Because of its lower THC content, hemp-derived products like CBD are often less potent and do not contain as high of a percentage of the psychoactive chemical that gets users "high" from marijuana.
Despite the hemp law changes, it still remains the sole legal game on the market besides medical marijuana, without a legalized recreational marijuana marketplace.
What the new laws changed
SB 903, carried by State Sen. Emmett Hanger, created a limit of two milligrams of THC per package. Alternatively, should a product exceed two milligrams of THC per product, it must adhere to a 25:1 CBD ratio.
Tasked to oversee the regulation of those products is the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, who also regulate food safety, inspections, farming oversight, and more.
RELATED: Virginia hemp farmers, retailers adjust business models after new legal restrictions enacted
Meanwhile, medical marijuana is overseen by the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority (VCCA), which is the regulatory body tasked to regulate recreational marijuana in the event recreational marijuana ever becomes legal in Virginia.
“There seems to be the beginning trends nationally, of people saying 'Hey this is confusing. For clarity, we need one regulator, one set of rules for one plant.’ That hasn’t taken hold in Virginia, who’s to say if it will? But people think that makes sense, to tackle them together," says Jeremy Preiss, the chief officer of the VCCA.
Other changes include:
- Improved labeling directives for topical products not intended for human consumption
- Civil penalties for selling products without proper registration, or selling products that exceed the limits defined in the bill
- Makes it unlawful to sell or offer for sale any substance containing a synthetic derivative of THC, like Delta-8
"Every year we've added a little bit"
Like any journey that takes time, it can be hard to see the finish line from the start.
Over the last five years, Suffolk farmer Jay Lilley has adopted the motto: "Another plant another round."
"Farmer I once heard say it’s not different from growing broccoli. Same sort of process, same sort of timing,” he said.
This year marks Lilley's fifth year of growing hemp as a certified hemp cultivator in Virginia. Despite the sweeping changes to Virginia law, laws about the growing of the plant did not go through the same changes, impacting only the retail end of what farmers like Lilley may be able to do with their crop.
"It’s an interesting sport to try and move forward in. How far do you want to go? You go two steps and then back five, especially with the law changes. People invest in things and then they’re no longer valid anymore.”
Lilley has never used his hemp crop to synthetically produce products like Delta-8 but still produces an oil and salve product that must adhere to the new regulations that went into effect one year ago.
Lilley is optimistic about the state of hemp in Virginia. Without a legalized marijuana marketplace, hemp can still have a space for those who do not have a medical marijuana card.
But not everyone feels as optimistic about the future of the industry as he does.
"Hemp is dead in Virginia"
In Virginia Beach, organic gardener Brad Wynne got into hemp cultivation much like other cultivators did, transitioning from a gardening and farming business to experimenting with a wholesale operation of the plant.
“It was a combination of everything. I knew and had tried CBD and THC in other states and saw the therapeutic benefits, but saw that the industry was laden with all these poisons and pesticides," Wynne said.
“If we could take what we know growing plants and veggies certified organic and just do it with hemp and make it a much cleaner process, it still struck with the business ethos. Plus, if you just crunch the numbers, everything looks good on a spreadsheet, we’d make more money we would than with lettuce.”
Unlike Lilley, Wynne has decided not to grow a hemp crop for 2024. He believes the changed laws drove interest down overall for the hemp market, calling the industry "dead" in the Commonwealth.
“We don’t need it, we don’t have to do it. But a majority of businesses I know have left. For retailers, 90% of their business is gone and they’ve just gone to North Carolina and are doing e-commerce sales. How are you [regulators] going to stop that?”
Although Wynne has never delved into the synthetics or Delta-8 market, he believes synthetically derived hemp products were inevitably going to be prohibited and taken off the shelves.
Curbing cannabis and hemp exposures in Va.
Virginia's poison centers saw a drop in reported exposures to THC and Delta-8, while edible exposures rose in some communities in 2023, according to data on cannabis calls obtained by 13News Now.
Poison centers in Virginia have long been resources for the general public to rely on if they or someone in their household is exposed to a potentially toxic chemical or product they are not supposed to be exposed to.
In Virginia, there are three Poison Center Districts covering the Commonwealth: the VPC which covers eastern Virginia (Hampton Roads, Richmond), the Blue Ridge District which covers the western side of the state (Charlottesville to Southwest Virginia), and the National Capitol Poison Center (localities in Northern Virginia).
Between 2020 and 2022, Delta-8 exposures jumped from as few as two reported exposures to 181 but saw a more than 50% drop in 2023 with only 81 reported exposures.
Pediatric cannabis exposures recorded by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association similarly dropped:
Between the first and second half of 2023, cannabis-related pediatric emergency department visits declined 21.5 percent (from 1,429 visits to 1,122 visits).
"There is a right way to do it. Many didn't."
In July 2023, hemp industry leaders came to the forefront to contest the changes, calling it government overreach and citing it would harm the prospects for hemp as a viable business opportunity in Virginia.
In the eyes of Ashland farmer Mark Tavares, the changes were actually needed to filter out bad actors and products from the market.
“There might be 100 amazing people that do everything by the books, but there are always a few that try to skirt the laws and find the gray areas. Last year, the crackdown was great. It pulled those products off the shelves, but that’s usually what the laws are going after. It never considers ‘How does this impact the small farmer that does everything by the book.' There is an issue there.”
Tavares, who grows year-round both outside and underneath a greenhouse, considers his himself a "craft" producer with a smaller hemp yield. He tells 13News Now that even though the changed laws made it harder for growers like him to operate, the tightened regulations ultimately eliminated growers and products giving other producers a bad reputation.
“There was a right way to do it, but many didn’t do it the right away and basically used an acid to transform that molecule from CBD into Delta-8," Tavares says.
“It shouldn't be branded like a gummy worm, they changed the packaging, they changed the laws on what shapes you could make gummies."
What's keeping hemp farmers and producers from leaving?
With farmers like Lilley and Wynne unsure about the exact direction of the hemp industry, they believe a pivot could be coming soon for local farmers.
"We were certified organic growers, certified organic processors. At one point certified by the state health board when doing stuff for human consumption. All of that was to put out this brand to say, 'Look we can be trusted.' And we’ll keep doing this [hemp] but we also want to do this as well," Wynne said, separating his hands.
When asked what he was referring to: "THC."
Earlier this year, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed the adult-use cannabis marketplace bill, whose Chief Patron is Virginia Beach State Sen. Aaron Rouse.
The bill, which is the Democrats' latest attempt to legalize a recreational marketplace in the years since they've legalized possession, would establish the framework for recreational marijuana sales across the state, establishing limits on the numbers of retail stores and cultivators in the state.
“They say, 'Legal recreation market doesn’t get rid of the black market.' Yes, there will always be a black market. Period. But it will help. It would make a huge dent, and more importantly, Virginians would have access to what you know are safe products," Wynne said.
It's Wynne's belief that hemp farmers are staying put until the day marijuana becomes legalized, allowing them to apply and have a better chance of getting a license because of their experience growing hemp.
“We can certainly do it right now, but we can’t. Most hemp growers and processors since hemp has crashed, they are basically holding out hope and doing a slow bleed of their product to get to THC. I don’t know many will keep doing it [hemp] after it is legalized," Wynne said.
Tavares believes that no matter what happens with legalized marijuana, he would still grow hemp for CBD-derived products. However, he admits he would be interested in growing both if it were ever legalized in Virginia.
"We know how to take a product all the way from seed to sale," Tavares said.
“I can track everything from start to finish, and we’ve put a lot of work in. So allowing us to enter the medical or recreational field would be a huge benefit for the state," he added.
But just because hemp farmers could enter the legal marijuana space, doesn't mean they think they should get automatic bids either.
“Yes we should have an opportunity, but not everyone will make it just because they can grow the plant," he adds.
For Lilley, who said he's unsure of whether he'll apply to become a marijuana farmer, tells 13News Now it's like the equivalent of getting a job after studying a topic in college.
“I don’t think it should be everybody is growing should have the opportunity to play. The opportunity to apply sure, but whether you make it to the NFL, that’s to be determined," Lilley explained.