Hemp businesses advocating for responsible industrywide regulations urge members of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to reject an Illinois Department of Agriculture proposed rule regulating hemp. The proposed regulations would criminalize the sale and transport of hemp products not purchased through a licensed cannabis dispensary, fueling a renewed "War on Drugs" and eliminating paths to social equity while harming countless local businesses.
The proposed rule's regulatory overreach would: Refuel the War on Drugs by expanding law enforcement authority for stops, searches, and drug arrests related to the purchase and transport of federally lawful hemp products, undermine Illinois' social equity goals while giving big multistate marijuana companies complete control of the hemp and cannabis markets, presume all hemp products that have not yet been tested – even hemp that has yet to be harvested – to be illegal cannabis, which can be seized by the state at any time, and authorize the state to conduct unlimited inspections of local businesses, saddling shop owners with new "testing" and "sampling" charges of up to $1,500 per product.
The proposed rule is scheduled to be discussed by the joint committee next Tuesday, November 12.
Ashraf Hassan, owner of Joliet-based hemp manufacturer Organic Pharma Techs LLC said: "If this proposed rule goes through, it will destroy the hemp business I built from the ground up and wipe out my ability to support my family and the 42 Illinois residents we employ I'll be forced to relocate my business to a new state, taking good jobs and opportunities out of Illinois. Even more concerning, this rule would disenfranchise the very same people that Illinois' social equity program was meant to uplift. Law enforcement would be granted more power to stop, search, and arrest people for purchasing federally legal hemp products – creating harsher criminal penalties in Illinois than even in places like Florida."
Should the proposed rule be approved, the IHBA stands ready to pursue all legal avenues to appeal the rule's adoption.
For more information:
International Hemp Building Association 
internationalhempbuilding.org/