When St. Louis Alderman Shane Cohn filed legislation last year to regulate intoxicating hemp products, he didn't hear much about it from local residents or leaders of the fast-growing industry.
"I did not get one call, email, etc., when I introduced this last session," Cohn said, a Democrat who represents a southern portion of St. Louis city. "And then all of a sudden, it's like everyone is coming out of the woodwork — and I haven't even requested a hearing on this yet."
His bill would prohibit hemp-derived THC beverages and edibles from being sold outside of marijuana dispensaries, which would effectively ban them. Intoxicating hemp products, sometimes labeled as "Delta-8," have largely been unregulated in Missouri since 2018, when Congress passed a Farm Bill that legalized hemp.
This year, Cohn gotten calls from "every single media outlet," he said, along with hemp beverage distributors, hemp edible companies and lobbyists. His bill comes right on the heels of a heated battle between St. Louis-area state senators this spring over a similar proposal. Cohn's bill has the same language as the legislation sponsored by conservative Republican state Sen. Nick Schroer of Defiance this year.
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