Frustrated by the growing number of legalization victories across the country, cannabis opponents are increasingly trying to rein in the industry by proposing state-level caps on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) potency.
The push involves at least six bills introduced in four state legislatures—Florida, Massachusetts, Montana and Washington. A bill was derailed in Colorado before being introduced because it triggered severe backlash.
Insiders within the cannabis industry suggest such moves could mean a return to prohibition, since many of the proposals would cap THC beneath what is currently available in many state-legal markets. Proponents warn that banning these products would create a new, illicit market for higher-potency cannabis and spawn more underground competition for legal cannabis companies.
In turn, that could perpetuate the War on Drugs.
Reported by Marijuana Business Daily, Chris Lindsey, director of government relations at the Washington DC-based Marijuana Policy Project, said, “If we go down this road, if we start banning certain products, we get law enforcement back in the business of enforcing cannabis laws. The potency caps is a terrible policy, and we are just heading down the wrong path.”
Lindsey pointed to the 2019 vape crisis as an example of how illegal, unregulated cannabis products create more risk for consumers than legal, high-potency cannabis.
Overshadowing state-level efforts is a larger threat and can lead to the possibility of a federal potency cap being included in any national legalization framework.
Two US senators raised that possibility in a recent bipartisan report from the Caucus on International Narcotics Control.
Issued by Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) and California Senator Dianne Feinstein (D), the report includes a recommendation that the National Institutes of Health and the US Food & Drug Administration develop their own recommendations as to whether states should cap the potency of cannabis products that may be sold.
To date, Vermont is the only state with a functional cannabis market that adopted potency caps of any type. That cap will limit THC to 30 percent in flower and 60 percent in solid concentrates.
