Let’s talk about 563 in North Carolina. It’s on the move again.

New amendments, no longer bans LS. It may effectively ban vape and flower products. Hi, I’m Morgan Davis. I’m a cannabis attorney in Raleigh, North Carolina. Let’s talk about how to keep your business protected and thriving. Hey, guys. Morgan Davis and my favorite assistant, Harley. We are in Seven Devils North Carolina this week.

And so we are coming to you live from the mountains, right about naptime. So my assistant may seem sleepy at some point during this video and or grumpy. HB563 is a bill to amend and regulate hemp derived products in North Carolina that we’ve talked about in previous videos. It is stalled. It was stalled for a little while, but it’s on the move again.

Now, The last video we talked about, the fact that there was some weird language that actually effectively banned Delta eight, Delta seven, Delta ten and how that was going to be a problem. By the way, Delta ten, Delta seven. We’ll talk about those in other videos, but very uncommon products, Delta eight, obviously being the biggest issue for a lot of stakeholders in North Carolina.

So that language is taken out. Delta eight is now allowed to say as well as Delta nine, Delta seven, ten as cannabinoids in hemp products. However, they’ve changed a few other things that could be problematic. They have adopted what’s or go. I’ve proposed to adapt what’s called a total THC standard, but I’m actually calling it total THC Plus because it’s a broader definition than I’ve seen so far in other states.

Total THC plus in terms of HB 563

Total THC plus in terms of HB 563 means that when measuring the THC concentration of a product, in order for it to be compliant, it must contain less than or no more than 0.3% THC in the aggregate with any cannabinoid. So what does that mean? It means whether it’s a Delta nine, THC, a Delta ten, a Delta eight, THC, or some combination thereof, and it contains any other cannabinoid CBD, CBG, CBN, thc V, thc A, the aggregate of all of them together has to be can be no greater than 0.3%.

That is problematic because it takes into account far more than any other standard that I’ve seen so far and I think ultimately effectuate a it’s a ban of a lot of products currently in the market. Most vapes will not be able to meet the standard. What additionally does due testing limitations on specific impurities, chemicals and solvents So before it required a higher degree of testing that is currently required because pretty much nothing is required right now.

Specific Levels of Impurities

But now they’ve built out this massive list of specific levels of impurities that your testing lab is going to have to make sure your product comes in under and your COA is going to have to reflect that. So anybody in North Carolina who’s going to continue to sell products or who is manufacturing or distributing products, start looking at if this passes, start looking at who your lab is, who yours that third party testing is, and ask them do they have the capacity to test for these impurities?

Can they produce a copy for you that’s going to include all this stuff? Because if not, you’re going to have to pivot. You’re going to have to change. Third party testing partners. There are MG caps. So there’s two measures. MG caps. The first, I’ll read you the specific language. These products may not do any of the the one be sold in a serving that contains more than 200 milligrams in the aggregate of one or more hemp derived cannabinoids.

So it doesn’t mean just your intoxicating cannabinoids, it means any hemp derived cannabinoid cannot be more than 200 milligrams in the aggregate per serving. That means CBD products. You cannot have a CBD product if it’s a distillate and it’s got more than CBD in it. Whatever is in the serving, the total cannabinoids in that serving cannot be more than 200 milligrams for certain cannabinoids.

I’m sure you can guess the intoxicating ones. You cannot have a serving that contains more than ten milligrams. So it cannot be more than ten milligrams in the aggregate of DNI d78 audited, that is ten milligrams. Seems like, you know, kind of an understandable what we would consider a common sense milligram cap. And at least that’s what a lot of people would argue.

But the sentence is be sold in a serving that contains more than ten milligrams in the aggregate. So if you walk into a hamper vape shop, a lot of times these days you’re going to find a product that has a big mixture of stuff. What this is trying to do is regulate even those products.

Capped and Regulated

So if you’ve got a D9 and an HHC product, it’s going to be capped and regulated under this and lots of other things in that too. Again, this is going to make a lot of existing products no longer viable in the North Carolina market. That includes a lot of vapes and most THC flower we talked about THC before and its popularity, especially in flower.

So THC, you can go see that video. But just a quick recap, THC is the precursor to Delta nine. So when it is sold it is legally compliant. When it is ignited, it generally has a lot more Delta nine in it than is legally allowed. That is probably going to be prohibited by these new regulations. Another couple of interesting things about these regulations, as restrictive as they are in every other category, North Carolina is only requiring an 18 years of age and up selling restriction.

Most states are making these products only available to those who are 21. And up North Carolina, sticking with 18 and up. Very interesting choice. North Carolina regulations. In addition to the MG caps, there are other things like labeling and packaging requirements that we’ve talked about before. Biggest change will be child resistant packaging. As you know, this amendment happened.

Let’s see, today’s August 17th — on August 15th, the amendments were filed. The bill is moving through committees. The intel we’re hearing is that it doesn’t have legs and won’t get very far before the end of the session, which is ending in two weeks or less. Even if it makes it through the House, the Senate still has to pass. It unlikely to happen before the end of the session.

Doesn’t mean they couldn’t hold a special session between now and the end of the year and try and do it then. But who knows? In the meantime, if it doesn’t pass, we have to look forward to this fall or the farm bill, potentially an administrative ruling from the DEA and potentially an administrative ruling from the FDA. So it’s going to be an exciting fall for everybody in the hemp industry.

If you’re in the hemp industry in North Carolina, go take a look at HB 563, Understand what it does to your products line. If you don’t understand, call me and we’ll talk about it, because if it doesn’t help you or it restricts you in any way or it’s going to cause you to make a major pivot, call or email your representatives today, do not wait because this affects you. And it’s going to put a lot of people in North Carolina out of business.