Some Illinois lawmakers want to do something about unregulated hemp products

Posted on April 12, 2024
State Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado (D-Chicago), mother of a 15-year-old girl, wants to do something about unregulated hemp products, some of which are in lookalike packaging like “Zkittles” or “Trips Ahoy.” (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Defenders of the cannabis industry say bad actors saw an opening with unregulated hemp – and drove right through it.

“All this kind of got started in 2018,” said Chris Lindsey, of a cannabis trade group. “when the Farm Bill defined hemp as separate from marijuana and then removed it from the schedule of controlled substances.”

Lindsey was part of a Capitol news conference, at which lookalike products containing, say, the hemp product Delta-8 and packaged as “Trips Ahoy” or “Zkittles,” appealing to children and for sale legally at the corner store or gas station.

Hemp lobbyist Mark Peysakhovich agrees there is no room for the lookalikes but adds those products are not what his clients’ hemp is all about.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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