An Arkansas business owner associated with a nationwide chain of hemp stores is pushing back against two bills he says are aimed at putting his industry out of business.
Roger Crawford, the owner of two SunMed Your CBD Store franchises in Arkansas and another in Alabama, says bills aimed at regulating and taxing the state's hemp-derived THC industry are simply a "backdoor ban" with a real aim of shutting down the industry.
"It's not a ban bill but it is a ban bill," Crawford said. Crawford is focused on Senate Bill 533, a bill that would place regulations on the industry and put it under the control of Arkansas Tobacco Control. He's also worried about Senate Bill 605, which would place a 50% excise tax on the hemp-derived THC products.
Crawford and Eduardo Roman, SunMed's general counsel, said SunMed supports regulation and taxation but not in the way these bills propose to do it. They point to a regulatory structure that legislators approved in Georgia last year. Roman said that bill had the support of the industry and had been created with the industry's input.
Read more at Arkansas Times