In his quarterly public report yesterday Michigan’s chief cannabis regulator reported a fast pace of cannabis facility inspections now that Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted from state employees and a new focus on bringing laws for Delta-8-THC products in line with existing Delta-9-THC products.
Delta-8-THC, a by-product of hemp, is chemically closely related to the Delta-9-THC found in marijuana. Both chemicals result in a high, but only Delta-9 is federally regulated. As a result, entrepreneurial hemp processors have been extracting Delta-8 to create products that produce a high and exist in a federal legal grey zone.
“We are looking at the Delta-8-THC issue, as it’s commonly known, looking at issues of intoxicating products that don’t currently fall within the definition of marijuana, within the statutes of Michigan and ensuring that products that may have intoxicating effects are subject to the same safety requirements and the same oversight as Delta-9-THC products,” said Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) Director Andrew Brisbo.
This is a new priority for Brisbo, as he did not mention it in a State Senate committee testimony last month.
Brisbo also announced his agency was back to a full schedule of cannabis facility inspections, with 1,072 inspections in the last three months, a 113% increase over the same period last year. The MRA also conducted 277 investigations during the last three months.
Separately, Brisbo announced that his agency’s new Standing Diversity Inclusion Committee met for the first time this month, to continue building on the recommendations produced by the agency’s Racial Equity Advisory Workgroup. The members of of the Diversity Committee are Ciarra Adkins, Lise-Pauline Barnett, Cimone Casson, Kimberly Klein, Monique Lee, Renzo Mejia, Barton Morris, Anqunette Sarfoh, and LaVonne Turner
