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In an unprecedented move, Oregon will ban the sale of all synthetic cannabinoids next month in an effort to crack down on unregulated products that have popped up on the shelves of grocery stores and gas stations.
Oregon will prohibit the sale of synthetic cannabinoids, such as delta-8 THC, starting July 1, according to The Oregonian, and next year, starting in July 2023, the state will allow retailers licensed by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) to sell synthetic cannabinoids—as long as they are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Regulators claim the restrictions stem from concerns about the chemicals used to produce synthetic cannabinoids, The Oregonian reported.
“We have testing for pesticides,” Steven Crowley, the OLCC’s hemp and processing compliance specialist, told the news outlet. “We have testing for residual solvents from the extraction process. We don’t have any testing for any of the whole universe of chemical reagents that you could use to synthetically turn one cannabinoid into something else, or for any of the byproducts of that reaction.”
As The Oregonian pointed out, the FDA has so far approved only a handful of hemp-derived products, meaning the agency is unlikely to grant the approval necessary to bring synthetic cannabinoids to the shelves of OLCC-licensed retailers next year.
Wyld, an Oregon-based cannabis producer that sells gummies containing a synthetic version of cannabinol (CBN), sells its products at local grocers, which will be illegal after July 1.
“There are ways to regulate it and there are definitely ways that we can ensure that the end product that’s being sold is subject to enough safety testing and safety standards to ensure, to the degree possible, the safety of the product without any sort of larger federal research grants or anything like that,” Gabe Parton Lee, general counsel at Wyld and Wyld CBD, told The Oregonian.
The company is currently circulating a petition against the rule change, according to the news outlet.
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