New rules aimed toward defending youngsters from intoxicating hemp merchandise will stay in impact after Florida lawmakers did not go broader laws to rein within the widespread compounds through the 2025 session.
Regardless of rising concern over unregulated hemp-derived intoxicants like delta-8 THC, the Florida Home and Senate ended the legislative session with out agreeing on a unified framework to manage the state’s booming marketplace for high-potency hemp merchandise. The 60-day session concluded Friday, April 26, with no decision in sight.
Competing payments stall
Home and Senate leaders clashed over competing payments that sought to deliver construction to the loosely regulated hemp sector, the place consumable merchandise usually rival or exceed the efficiency of authorized medical marijuana.
Rep. Michelle Salzman, a Pensacola Republican who led the Home workgroup on hemp, launched two measures: HB 7027 targeted on product coverage, and HB 7029 addressed taxation. The Senate, in the meantime, superior a single invoice, SB 438, sponsored by Sen. Colleen Burton, R-Lakeland.
Variations between the payments proved too deep to reconcile earlier than the legislative deadline. The Senate’s model included a ban on artificial hemp compounds, restrictions on exterior promoting, and tighter caps on THC content material. The Home proposals, whereas targeted on shopper security, took a softer stance on these key provisions.
“Whereas the Home made vital progress… we have been finally unable to align with the Senate model,” Salzman stated. “We stay up for persevering with this work in future Classes.”
Concentrating on baby security
Some reforms did take impact independently of legislative motion. New Florida Division of Agriculture guidelines now require child-resistant packaging for consumable hemp merchandise and mandate QR-code labeling that hyperlinks to lab outcomes and product data.
The principles are aimed squarely at retaining intoxicating hemp out of the arms of minors and curbing cartoonish or candy-style packaging that critics say targets youngsters.
The rules additionally restrict advertising methods seen as interesting to youth, reflecting a rising push amongst lawmakers and regulators to attract clearer strains between adult-use hashish merchandise and child-safe shopper items.
Political divide deepens
Florida’s fractured method to hashish coverage displays deeper political tensions. After vetoing hemp rules final yr, Gov. Ron DeSantis gained assist from intoxicating hemp producers in his profitable marketing campaign to defeat Modification 3, a 2024 referendum to legalize leisure marijuana.
With that initiative lifeless, Florida’s hashish market stays break up in two: closely regulated medical marijuana accessible by prescription, and hemp-derived intoxicants offered freely in fuel stations, smoke outlets and on-line — usually with no age restrictions.
Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Duval County, launched a separate invoice, SB 1030, that might have banned delta-8 THC, restricted delta-9 content material to 2 milligrams per serving, and prohibited gross sales close to colleges. That measure additionally failed to achieve traction.
Nationwide motion looms
Whereas Florida struggles to behave, federal regulators may quickly pressure the state’s hand. The U.S. Meals and Drug Administration is reviewing hemp-derived cannabinoids, whereas the Drug Enforcement Administration could reclassify artificial THC variants like delta-8 as Schedule I medication.
In the meantime, potential revisions to the 2018 Farm Invoice — at present below debate in Congress — may shut loopholes that enable for artificial intoxicants below the hemp definition. If handed, these modifications may dramatically curtail the supply of such merchandise throughout state strains, together with in Florida.
The Florida Legislature’s subsequent common session begins in March 2026.
