Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has vowed to run intoxicating hemp products out of Missouri, banning their sale and threatening penalties to any business that makes or sells them.

In many ways, it’s the latest showdown between the marijuana industry — which has operated legally in Missouri since 2018 but is outlawed federally — and the hemp industry, whose products were legalized by the 2018 Farm Bill.

But at the end of the day, what’s the difference between intoxicating hemp products and intoxicating marijuana products?

Hemp and marijuana are essentially terms the government uses to distinguish between the part of the cannabis plant that can get you high when smoked – that’s marijuana – and the part that can’t — that’s hemp. 

It all boils down to their THC content, or their psychoactive component.

Any part of the plant containing 0.3% or less THC by dry weight is defined as hemp. That means if you were to smoke a joint of dried hemp, you shouldn’t get high. 

And that’s why in 2018 Congress removed hemp and hemp seeds from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) schedule of controlled substances as part of the Farm Bill.

However, there’s a big complicating factor with a definition based on dried weight. Today’s intoxicating edibles, pre-rolled joints and other products – using both marijuana or hemp – often incorporate extracts of highly concentrated THC, or distillates. 

Laboratories can take a large amount of hemp and extract enough THC to make intoxicating edibles and drinks with 5 to 20 mg of THC in them. Up until the governor’s Sept. 1 ban on these products, they were found in regular Missouri gas stations, stores and bars. 

When THC is extracted in this way, there’s no way for regulators to tell whether the THC came from hemp or marijuana. 

Hemp is full of CBD, a nonpyschoactive cannabinoid that helps people relax and often found in massage oils and sleep aids.

Some companies synthetically convert CBD to THC to make their products. CBD can be converted into delta-8 THC, as well as delta-9 THC, using a solvent, acid and heat to produce higher concentrations of THC than those found naturally in the plant.

Leaders of the Cannabis Regulator Association have asked Congress to close “the 0.3% loophole” in the pending Farm Bill to prevent intoxicating hemp products from going unregulated, according to the association’s statement last summer.

While the threshold of 0.3% delta-9 THC by weight is a small amount of THC in a hemp plant, when applied to things like chocolate bars or beverages that can weigh significantly more, 0.3% by weight can amount to hundreds of milligrams of THC, the association said.

For example, a 50-gram chocolate bar at 0.3% THC would have around 150 mg of THC — 30 times the standard 5 mg THC dose established by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. A family sized pack of cookies weighing 20 oz can contain around 1,700 mg of THC using the 0.3% THC threshold.

Hemp industry leaders don’t want to see these intoxicating products banned. Instead, they’ve suggested the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau handle their regulation. That’s also been the case locally in Missouri. 

States have passed a patchwork of different laws to attempt to regulate the products until the new Farm Bill is passed. Many of the laws have been challenged by the hemp industry, and federal judges have differing opinions on whether states can legally regulate these hemp products without Congress changing current federal law. 

Parson signed an executive order on Aug. 1 banning intoxicating hemp products and threatening penalties to any establishment with a Missouri liquor license or that sells food products for selling them. It also bans companies from producing hemp-derived THC beverages in Missouri.

The Missouri Hemp Trade Association filed a lawsuit two days before the order took effect, asking for a state judge for a preliminary injunction. 

Missouri is currently shining a light on the THCA loophole. After more than 60,000 cannabis products were recalled last year, a company has revealed that it was importing THCA extracted from the hemp plant and putting it in marijuana products — arguing that THCA is not actually intoxicating until it is heated, so it doesn’t count as total THC. 

CANNRA told Congress that despite some states’ efforts to address this issue, many hemp businesses are selling “THCA hemp” flower that contains less than 0.3% delta-9 THC but has a total THC concentration of 15% to 20%. 

“This so-called ‘hemp’ is indistinguishable from marijuana flower,” the association stated.