I don’t believe this will be implemented very equally on the local levels because it depends on who is able to do so on top of already being extremely busy with their jobs.”
By Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon
The House passed a cannabis bill last week that would permit intoxicating hemp-derived beverages to be sold in licensed Massachusetts liquor stores while ordering edible intoxicating hemp-derived products like gummies off store shelves, but critics say the legislation fails to address the core problem of enforcement at the local level.
Intoxicating hemp-derived edible products have the same active ingredient as cannabis, but are not subject to any oversight by the state Cannabis Control Commission. The state has seen a boom in sales of products made from hemp due to a loophole on the federal level that allows hemp to be defined differently than cannabis.
The state issued a directive last spring declaring hemp-based products as illegal. But enforcement is uneven.
House Bill makes it illegal to sell edible products derived from hemp in California, but allows hemp-derived drinks in liquor stores licensed by the state’s cannabis commission.
Local boards of health are required to supervise the sale of edible hemp products. This includes taking samples for testing from retailers, removing illegal products, and issuing written warnings about additional steps for subsequent violations.
Cheryl Sbarra of the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards said that without additional funding, local health boards lack the resources necessary to implement enforcement. The law’s value is determined by your ability enforce it. “If you can’t enforce the law because you’re short on money, it’s meaningless,” said Sbarra.
The state would use the money from any taxes levied on hemp-derived drinks or fines imposed on retailers who illegally sell edibles derived from hemp.
Sbarra stated that enforcing the law is not as easy as just walking into stores and picking up products. Stores would have to be inspected by the local health boards. A protocol would be needed for the storage and testing of potentially illegal products. And most local boards of public health do not have relationships established with laboratories that can test hemp products.
Phoebe Walker said, “I do not think that this is going to be implemented very equally on the local levels because it depends on who can handle the workload on top of already being extremely busy,” says the director of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (an umbrella organization serving communities in Franklin County). Uneven enforcement would be bad for the public’s health.
Sbarra & Walker point out that other House bills contained language that directed tax revenues from legal hemp products towards local health boards, but this provision was not included in the bill that was passed last week.
Cannabis industry is pushing for stricter regulations on hemp because it competes with marijuana. Hemp products, they say, are undercutting cannabis sales by being cheaper and unregulated.
Ryan Dominguez of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition (an advocacy group in support of the cannabis industry) said that the coalition is for including funding for local health boards so they may enforce the ban of sale of hemp-derived products.
The cannabis industry needs to enforce the law because the ban of intoxicating products made from hemp, in Massachusetts, even before this bill was passed, is not being followed. Dominguez said. “We want to make sure that these products are removed from liquor and gas station shelves. We can do this by providing the necessary funding to the local health boards.”
According to the House-approved legislation, the Cannabis Commission would be in charge of testing, labeling hemp beverages and other rules, but they could only sold by licensed liquor shops.
Cannabis bill also would restructure Cannabis Control Commission. It will increase the maximum number of retail licences that a company could own to six.
Travis Ahern is the executive director of the Cannabis Commission. He welcomed the decision to crack down on hemp-based products. But he said the commission—which has previously called for more funding to carry out its existing duties—will need more resources in order to take on the added responsibility of regulating hemp products.
Ahern stated in an email that “the Cannabis Control Commission is vocal about the necessity to regulate intoxicating hemp and we are happy to see actions taken to close a loophole caused by federal laws.” Ahern stated that the proposed budget for 2026 “is inadequate even to meet our current needs.” We look forward to working with the Legislature in order to secure the necessary resources to implement these possible statutory updates as part of our mission to oversee a safe and equitable cannabis market in Massachusetts.
This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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