The state’s legislative oversight committee on medical marijuana was thrust into the world of synthetic THC on Monday as members heard complaints about how weakly regulated hemp-derived products are hurting South Dakota’s medical marijuana industry.

The Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee heard from business owners and the director of the State Public Health Laboratory during a meeting in Pierre. They are concerned about the growth of synthetically modified hemp-derived products sold under names such as delta-8-THC and delta-10-THC, compounds that can produce a marijuana-like high. The compound that gives marijuana its high is delta-9-THC.

Like marijuana, the synthetic products come in the form of smokable flower, pre-rolled joints, vape oil and edibles. Unlike marijuana, the companies that produce them are not subject to the testing, safety and labeling requirements that apply to the state’s legal medical cannabis market.

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Alternatives not only represent a Health riskThe witnesses told the oversight committee that it could reduce demand for medical marijuana because the products can be purchased without a medical marijuana patient card and can be enhanced with sufficient amounts of THC variants to serve as a substitute for marijuana.

Congress approved hemp cultivation with the 2018 Farm Bill, and South Dakota became largest hemp producer in the country after it was legalized four years ago. During this period, the availability and variety of hemp-based marijuana alternatives has exploded.

The legislature passed House Bill 1125 last winter to target the “diet weed” market. The law, which took effect in July but is being challenged in court, prohibits the manufacture or sale of some products made by chemically altering hemp. Possession of the products remains legal.

The new law bans four THC variants, Tim Southern, director of the State Public Health Laboratory, told the committee, but several others remain available. THC-A products, for example, will continue to be available in tobacco shops that previously sold other products whose sale is now prohibited.

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South Dakota’s medical marijuana program has seen a decline in patient cardholders since the beginning of the year, with business owners attributing this in part to a lack of enforcement of state regulations on the THC-A products offered on store shelves.

These stores are “illegal dispensaries that sell cannabis under the guise of hemp,” Dalton Grimmius, CEO of Dakota Herb, told South Dakota Searchlight after the meeting.

One problem, said committee members who work in law enforcement, is the state’s testing capacity.

Alan Welsh of Dakota Herb told committee members that the dispensary had to lower prices for its vetted, federally approved product below those of unregulated competitors to incentivize patients to purchase its product through legal channels and keep their medical marijuana cards.

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Welsh added that he had privately tested two “hemp” products sold in Sioux Falls. They not only contained more contaminants than the state allows for medical marijuana, but also more than 0.03 percent THC by weight – the legal limit for hemp.

“We shouldn’t have been able to sell this product in our store and yet we’re forced to compete with it,” Welsh said. “It’s ridiculous.”

The committee did not pursue the concerns raised at the meeting. Instead, its members suggested that the committee recommend a legislative summer study. That would have to wait until summer 2025, as study committees for that summer are already underway.

Lawmakers on the committee are concerned that policy recommendations outside the medical marijuana industry would exceed the jurisdiction of their own committee. The committee could make a formal decision and recommendation at its October meeting.

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Jeremiah Murphy, a lobbyist for the state’s cannabis industry, said legalizing “everything” would provide an opportunity for better regulation and licensing of the products.

Voters will have the opportunity to do so in November as part of a referendum on recreational marijuana use.

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Sioux Falls Police Chief John Thum compared policing and regulating drugs like THC-A to a “mole racket.” Southern agreed.

The health lab director was one of several witnesses — and committee members — who said a federal solution was needed. Congress is currently working on a new farm bill, and committee members suggested reaching out to South Dakota’s congressional delegation to demand that the bill’s provision legalizing hemp clarify that the plant cannot be used to make narcotics.

Until the federal government takes action, Southern said, South Dakota should be prepared to leverage the expertise of its agriculture, health and law enforcement agencies to develop statewide laws against counterfeit marijuana and its suppliers.

“I think this is something we need to do legislatively, with very smart, well-written laws that don’t allow modern amateur chemists to wriggle out of a law,” Southern said. “Otherwise it will be nothing more than a game of whack-a-mole now and forever.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been corrected since its original publication. The wording now more clearly distinguishes between “diet weed,” synthetic THC, and THC-A products.