THC products from unlicensed retailers are being sold to consumers in the Inland Northwest.
All THC products, whether from hemp or marijuana, can only be sold by licensed cannabis retailers in Washington state.
But plenty of other states don’t require a license to sell hemp, and products from those stores are coming into the Inland Northwest via online shipping across the country.
And an Oregon study found that, despite being labeled as hemp products, the majority have higher THC concentrations than their legal definition allows for.
Hemp or marijuana?
Both hemp and marijuana are from the cannabis sativa plant and can have varying levels of the psychoactive compound THC.
If you ask the federal government, hemp has less than 0.3% THC, while marijuana has more.
Hemp was legalized across the country by the 2018 Farm Bill.
But Washington state passed a law in 2023 saying that only licensed cannabis retailers can sell a product with any detectable levels of THC, including hemp-derived THC.
That makes Washington one of the strictest states when it comes to hemp products, along with California and Alaska.
Crossing state lines
Since different states have different regulations, plenty of non-cannabis retailers across the U.S. sell hemp-based THC products.
Often, they sell online. That makes it possible to ship those products to Washington doorsteps.
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board met this week to talk about how hemp-derived THC products shipped from other states cuts into tax revenue and threatens to outcompete local industry.
“Of course, the industry member is concerned about out-of-state taking over their business," said Captain Matthew Murphy. "In our state, we don't have direct-to-home allowances. So if somebody can just go online and order a THC product and get it shipped directly to their house without paying state sales tax, without paying excise tax, that would obviously be a big concern.”
What’s worse, a recent study from Oregon revealed that products labeled as “hemp”—which should have less than 0.3% THC—were often mislabeled and contained much more than the stated limit.
That poses a major threat to consumers, especially those who lie about their age online.
“Our concern is youth access," Murphy said. "We have stories of parents, of guardians that contact us and say that their kids have gotten sick and actually spent time in the hospital over consuming some of the products.”
Murphy said it’s simple to enforce the state’s restrictions if a convenience or grocery store in Washington is selling something it doesn’t have a license for.
But it gets really tricky and time consuming to try to enforce Washington rules on retailers in different states.
