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South Carolina Lawmakers Should Pass Hemp Legislation That Smartly Regulates Products (Op-Ed)

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2 months ago

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“South Carolina can take an important step forward in regulating the hemp industry, protecting our families and ensuring access to these products.”

By David Spang, Coastal Green Welles via South Carolina Daily Gazette

In South Carolina, the hemp industry is at a crossroads.

Without common sense regulations for the sale of hemp and hemp-derived products, we risk reducing public safety, damaging the industry’s credibility, and putting South Carolina’s small businesses at risk.

the current South Carolina law does not regulate products containing hemp-derived cannabinoidsin addition to limiting delta-9 THC to 0.3 percent by dry weight under federal law.

This gap has allowed the rapid expansion of products, from gummies to vapes, with little oversight or guidance.

Fortunately, there is a solution.

In recent years, the South Carolina Association of Healthy Alternatives has worked to develop a reasonable and responsible regulatory framework for the state’s hemp industry. As the legislature opens in Columbia, an amendment House Bill 3924 it allows to establish this framework.

With the support of many legislators, we believe this amendment will make it the only piece of legislation that meets the goals of protecting our industry, law enforcement and, most importantly, the public.

States across the country, including Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky, have passed bills to responsibly regulate hemp and hemp-derived products in their states.

Additionally, last month’s White House order to reclassify marijuana provided a clear direction on full-spectrum hemp, signaling more support for consumable hemp products.

It’s time for South Carolina to join its peers in ensuring access to these products for the people who have come to rely on them and protecting small business owners and the public from bad actors.

In December, local, state and federal law enforcement conducted “Operation Ganjaprenuer,” a series of coordinated operations against criminals trafficking illegal drugs in South Carolina.

Unfortunately, these actions also affected legitimate businesses across the state that sold legal hemp products.

For those businesses, Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) called for what is needed: a reasonably and responsibly regulated South Carolina hemp industry.

This means creating a framework for responsible regulation of hemp-derived consumer products to include:

  • Limit sales to persons over 21 years of age
  • Testing requirements to ensure safe and compliant products for consumers
  • Packaging and labeling requirements
  • Licenses for manufacturers, distributors/wholesalers and retailers
  • Server size limits

For responsible businesses trying to operate legally, current interpretations and inconsistent enforcement are unsustainable.

Business owners who are committed to doing things the right way are forced to compete with bad actors who cut corners, mislabel their products, or target minors.

South Carolina can take an important step forward in regulating the hemp industry, protecting our families and ensuring access to these products.

If we can amend H3294 with full regulatory guidelines and send it to Governor Henry McMaster’s (R) desk, we will ensure that South Carolina follows the responsible regulations of our peer states.

This article was first published by the South Carolina Daily Gazette.

David Spang is the founder of Coastal Green Wellness, which sells hemp products. He is also the president of the South Carolina Healthy Alternatives Association, a group that advocates for responsible regulation of the hemp-derived products industry. Born in South Carolina, lives in Myrtle Beach.

Max Jackson’s photo.

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Cresco Labs gets Texas license

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16 hours ago

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April 4, 2026

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Cresco Labs has obtained a Texas Compassionate Use Program License. It is a vertically integrated license that allows Cresco Labs to cultivate, process and distribute medical cannabis.

“Texas patients deserve access to consistent, quality medicine, and we’re excited. Our track record in medical markets reflects our ability to build strong programs that put patients and communities first,” said Charlie Bachtell, CEO of Cresco Labs. “Winning a license in Texas through a merit-based application demonstrates Cresco Labs’ deep regulatory expertise and thoughtful approach to meaningful local engagement. Organic licenses enable capital-efficient market entry, and our cash flow and balance sheet give us the financial flexibility to invest in and grow our scaled platform for the long term.”

This license advances Cresco Labs’ state-by-state growth strategy and ensures access to one of the largest patient populations in the United States. Texas is the nation’s second most populous state, approaching 30 million people, and continues to see ongoing legislative efforts to improve patient access and expand eligibility.










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Missouri Lawmakers Pass Bill To Ban Intoxicating Hemp THC Products, Sending It To Governor

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16 hours ago

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April 4, 2026

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The legislation also includes provisions to protect the privacy of marijuana users and the right of cannabis workers to unionize.

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent

It would be a bill headed to the desk of Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe (R). remove all intoxicating hemp products from the shelves as of Nov. 12 — including THC seltzers currently sold in bars and grocery stores — in line with the state’s upcoming federal ban.

If Congress were to reverse course and decide to allow the sale of these products, Missouri would allow the sale of marijuana only in licensed dispensaries. And if Congress decides to delay the ban for a couple of years, Missouri would ban all products except liquor sales at dispensaries.

The House passed the bill sponsored by state Rep. Dave Hinman, R-O’Fallon, by a vote of 126 to 23. It passed the Senate Tuesday night and now goes to the governor for his signature or veto.

The bill also includes provisions to protect the privacy of marijuana users and the right of cannabis workers to organize, amendments that state senators added late Tuesday.

Hinman’s legislation was one of the first bills to pass the House this year. He previously told The Independent that the legislation was a priority for state leadership, including the governor, attorney general and House speaker.

Intoxicating hemp products containing as much as 1,000 mg of THC are being sold in smoke shops—outside of licensed marijuana dispensaries in Missouri—and are not regulated by any government agency. Missouri lawmakers have not passed legislation regulating these products since 2023.

The bill comes amid uncertainty about where the federal government will take regulation of these products.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December directing his administration to work with Congress to develop a framework that allows full-spectrum CBD products that contain some amount of THC.

On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services unveiled an initiative that could $500 cover per year per 3mg hemp-derived THC and CBD product. for eligible users. Products under this program would be illegal in Missouri under the bill passed Thursday.

This story was first published by the Missouri Independent.

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“There is more to Portugal’s medical cannabis story than recent turbulence”

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2 days ago

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April 3, 2026

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Germany imported 2025 tons of medical cannabis. Part of that volume came from a Portuguese processor whose license had been revoked, which was unloaded below cost as it was reinstated. The episode sparked attention, and consequences followed. PTMC’s Joao Duarte believes that most of these conclusions are wrong. “Eight tons is not even 5% of what Germany consumes per year,” he says. “For that to result in price dumping, the math just doesn’t work.”

Structural price pressure
According to him, the price pressure in Portugal is mainly structural. “The more countries that get into production and start exporting, the lower the prices will be. Today, Colombia is exporting, Costa Rica is exporting, and Brazil, with the scale it can bring to outside cultivation, is not far behind. Canada has been the main volume supplier to markets in Germany, Australia, Israel and the UK due to the strength of low-priced flowers from European producers. Again, and fast.” It draws a direct line with what happened in the CBD market in previous years, when prices were compressed as supply expanded and operators without cost or quality advantages found themselves without a market. Medical flower THC, he says, is following the same logic over a longer timeline.

To lift the burden of this price pressure, the answer obviously lies in the right regulations and policies. These should be based on the principles of providing high quality medicines to patients. To achieve this, the flowers must reach the consumers shortly after they are picked. As simple as it sounds, proximity is Portugal’s real advantage. “The fresher the flower is when it reaches the patient, the better the quality,” he says. “Only proximity gives that.”

© Henner Damke | Dreamstime

A turning point
As for the regulatory issue, Joao points to Portugal’s eight-year history of medical cannabis as a distinguishing feature, following last year’s police raids. Organizations that have long been involved in the licensing and enforcement framework have developed standards and experience in applying them. “Our GMP standards are real,” he says. “They are not a number on a certificate.”

The damage to the reputation of these raids, in his opinion, is exaggerated. “There is always a scandal in the industry,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over, that a country’s economic sector has been kicked out. Canada, the largest exporter of cannabis, is the clearest example of that. Everyone remembers the CannTrust scandal in 2019, which made international headlines. That didn’t kill the Canadian industry until it became them, the regulatory system moved in their work. It looks like.”

EU-GMP clearance
One important area is EU GMP clearance, the practice of converting imported flowers through a European facility to obtain certification that the original material would not otherwise carry. “We would have more value growing the flowers than doing the conversion,” he says. For Portuguese producers, the practice reduces the premium that EU GMP certification must entail and makes it more difficult to distinguish domestically grown product from processed imports at the point of sale.

To each his own
Joao does not believe that other European countries can take Portugal’s place in the old continent’s cannabis industry. “This is simply because it’s not one thing for a country to be active in one sector and then push out another. It’s an open market, everyone participates at different levels.” As a neighbor, Joao cites Spain as an example. The country currently has less than ten licensed producers and has yet to build the export infrastructure or regulatory track required by the markets. “I don’t see Spain coming and taking over,” he says. “Both Spain and Portugal will take market share. Operators with established contracts will continue to move product. After that, it’s about quality and price.”

Denmark, he says, is an immediate competitive variable, producing significant quantities and moving into European markets with momentum. Portugal is currently among the top three to five exporters to Germany and has established positions in Australia, Israel and the United Kingdom. “This reflects accumulated capacity rather than regulatory time, and it’s not something that goes away because a processor loses its license,” he says.

A common European pricing policy, along the lines of the state-controlled model in France, is a mechanism that the industry should collectively push for. Without this, individual producers are left to absorb the cost pressures of suppliers operating on a scale that European policy has no current framework for. “We should aim to have good flowers,” he says. “We must not aim to demolish Portugal.”

For more information:
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