USDA boosts hemp research • Mass. governor announces cannabis pardons • Arizona AG issues opinion on delta-8 • & more …

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Last week, to mark the second National Biobased Products Day, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it would give $10 million to Oregon State University’s Global Hemp Innovation Center to “work with 13 Native American Tribes to spur economic development in the western United States by developing manufacturing capabilities for materials and products made from hemp.”

The USDA also released a “Hemp Research Needs Roadmap.” It is organized by four “needs,” which include: breeding and genetics; best practices for production; biobased products manufacturing for end-uses; and transparency and consistency. And, within each of those four “needs” areas, there are several goals, such as “identifying sustainable production practices” and “producing varietal improvements for regional adaptation.”

Finally, on the note of biobased products, a company called HempWood is featured in a report commissioned by the USDA and titled “An Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry: 2023 Update.”

Gov. Maura Healey announced this week that she will pardon, pending approval by the Governor’s Council, misdemeanor cannabis possession convictions in the state. 

Her office called the announcement “the most comprehensive action by a governor since President Joe Biden pardoned federal marijuana possession convictions and called on governors to take similar actions in their states,” adding that it “could impact hundreds of thousands of people.” 

“The reason we do this is simple: justice requires it,” Healy said during a press briefing on Wednesday. “It’s unfinished business. Knowing we have the power to lift that burden, we should do something about it.”

Pushback continues to mount against intoxicating hemp products. In recent weeks, regulators in lawmakers in states like Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio have moved, or said they plan to move, to rein these products in. And that is just a snapshot of the most recent efforts. 

And this week, Arizona AG Kris Mayes issued an opinion on delta-8 that states, in short, that delta-8 can only be sold by cannabis licensees. 

“This Opinion concludes that delta-8 and other hemp-synthesized intoxicants cannot legally be sold by entities that are not licensed cannabis sellers. Delta-8 is an intoxicating hemp-synthesized cannabinoid with a chemical profile and psychoactive effect materially similar to that of marijuana. Intoxicating cannabis products are Schedule 1 controlled substances that may be sold only by licensed cannabis sellers in Arizona,” she wrote.

“Arizona’s 2018 industrial hemp law did not create an exception to these laws. Rather, in contrast to the federal Farm Bill, the industrial hemp law omitted hemp ‘extracts’ and ‘derivatives’ from the definition of industrial hemp and expressly provided that the State wished to ‘maintain strict control of marijuana.’ Delta-8’s sale by unlicensed entities like convenience stores and smoke shops is therefore unlawful,” she continued.

+ More: one in 10 high school seniors reports consuming delta-8 THC products, according to new research backed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.