Over the past few years, Jonny Griffis has invested millions of dollars in his legal marijuana farm in northern Michigan, which produces extracts to be used in things like gummy bears and vape oils.
Jonny Griffis, chief operating officer of True North Collective trims cannabis plants in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
But now that farm — like many other licensed grows in states that have legalized marijuana – faces an existential threat: high-inducing cannabis compounds derived not from the heavily regulated and taxed legal marijuana industry, but from a chemical process involving little-regulated, cheaply grown hemp.
Greg Brewer prepares True North Collective gummies with sugar in Jackson, Mich., March 2, 2022.
“It's going to make our farm obsolete,” Griffis, the chief operating officer of True North Collective, testified before Michigan's Marijuana Regulatory Agency recently. “The $3 million or so that I’ve invested ... is going to be wiped out.”
Cannabis plants are shown at a True North Collective growing facility in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
At the center of the issue is THC, marijuana’s main intoxicating component. While marijuana and hemp are the same plant – cannabis – the distinction between the two is a legal one, and comes down to the amount of THC in the plant, specifically the amount of a type of THC called delta-9.
Jonny Griffis, chief operating officer of True North Collective, poses in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
Hemp is defined in federal law by its low delta-9 THC content and is traditionally used for food, clothing and industrial applications. “Rope not dope” was long a motto for those who advocated the legalization of hemp.
Justin Herman prepares True North Collective vape cartridges in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
But since Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill, authorizing the growing of hemp nationwide, there’s been an unforeseen consequence: People exploiting what they see as a loophole in the law have taken that hemp, extracted a non-intoxicating compound called CBD, and chemically changed it – generally by the addition of solvents and heat – into various types of impairing THC.
Cannabis plants growing at an indoor True North Collective facility are shown in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
Unlike the completely artificial, often dangerous drugs known as K2 or Spice and called “synthetic marijuana,” the chemically created THC at issue here consists of molecules found naturally in cannabis, though sometimes in vanishingly small amounts. It's far cheaper to produce THC chemically from hemp than to extract it from marijuana.
Justin Waid, True North Collective hydrocarbon extraction director, prepares cannabis for extract in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
Because it is derived from hemp, that THC – often in a form called delta-8 – can wind up in candies, vape oils and other products sold in gas stations, convenience stores and online, even in states where marijuana is illegal. The Food and Drug Administration warned last year that the substances pose a public health risk due to multiple factors, including the way they are marketed and because of potential contamination when manufactured.
Jessica Owl, weighs True North Collective recreational marijuana, during packaging in Jackson, Mich., March 2, 2022.
At least 17 states have banned such products, but they remain available in many, including the pioneering legal marijuana state of Washington, where gas station and vape-shop sales of THC created from hemp offer competition to the heavily taxed, regulated and tested marijuana market.
Jonny Griffis, chief operating officer of True North Collective, walks past cannabis plants growing at an indoor cannabis growing facility in Jackson, Mich., March 2, 2022.
Virginia lawmakers this month approved a bill to strictly limit the amount of THC allowed in hemp-derived products; Gov. Glenn Youngkin has not yet signed it. In Kentucky and Georgia, recent lawsuits have sought to establish that delta-8 products are legal; a Kentucky judge sided with hemp advocates there on Feb. 28, allowing the products to continue to be sold as lawmakers consider a ban.
Justin Waid, True North Collective hydrocarbon extraction director, prepares cannabis for extract in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a hemp industry association, has decried the use of hemp-extracted CBD to create intoxicating products, saying it “undermines the integrity of the hemp industry and intent of the 2018 Farm Bill.”
True North Collective gummies are packaged in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
Supporters call chemically derived THC economical and environmentally friendly. Hemp can be grown in vast fields outdoors, without expensive lighting systems, and can have a lower carbon footprint than marijuana. Further, processors can make a more consistent product using chemistry to make THC from CBD, they say, and regulators shouldn't stand in the way of market innovations or pick winners and losers in the industry. They liken it to the synthetically created vanilla or caffeine added to food and drinks.
True North Collective vape cartridges are shown in Jackson, Michigan, U.S., March 2, 2022.
