Advocacy

What is HF2605?

Full Text: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=90&ba=HF2605

HF2605 is an update to Iowa Section 204 Code 2024 that makes the following changes:

Requires purchasers of consumable hemp to be 21 years of age and enforces an ID check at the time of purchase.
Creates a requirement to have a warning label on every product, with wording that is approved by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.
Changes the maximum allowable THC per serving to 4mg.
Changes the maximum allowable THC per container to 10mg.
Criminalizes giving a consumable hemp product to anyone under the age of 21. This applies to CBD and other non-psychoactive cannabinoids.
Other changes that create civil and criminal penalties for those selling consumable hemp products without being registered with the state, or selling products that are beyond the state approved limits.
Allows the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to confiscate and destroy, at the business owner’s expense, any products it deems to be outside the allowable ranges.

How does this affect The Despensary?

This bill will effectively end The Despensary as a vendor of consumable hemp products. The limits imposed do not match any available product on the market and would make medical dispensaries the only legal source in Iowa.

How does this affect consumers?

Consumers would lose all choice regarding consumable hemp products. The only legal source would be the state approved medical dispensaries. Consumers would be forced to either patronize those locations, abstain entirely, or purchase from out of state, either by direct sale or purchasing online. The last option is effectively criminalized under this updated bill.

How does this affect Iowa and the consumable hemp industry?

With these changes, both the state and the industry suffer. This will cause jobs to be lost, tax revenue to be lost, and criminalize acts that most Iowans do not want to be criminalized. More Iowan tax money will be spent going after business violators and consumers, resulting in a net loss for the state. Iowa will also have to spend even more taxpayer money defending the changes in legal proceedings, as the owners of consumable hemp businesses will challenge the legislation in court.

Why is regulating consumable hemp a bad thing?

It isn’t, but regulations like these are not being created in good faith and are designed to establish a monopoly for the state approved medical dispensaries. The limits imposed are meant to kill the industry in the state. Sensible regulations would look at the current product lines to select reasonable limits, rather than impose industry killing ones.

What can be done?

Anyone with concerns about the direction of this legislation should contact their state House Representative, their state Senator, or the Governor’s office. The Governor has not signed this yet, meaning this may still be avoided. We need to make our voices heard and let the people working for us know that we are not unruly children needing guidance and that we can make our own choices about what we consume.

Governor’s Office

https://governor.iowa.gov/contact-office-governor

State Senators and Representatives

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

Response to April 2nd Iowa Senate Vote