The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently released a report on May 9 with details about its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), which is dedicated to compiling data in relation to illegal drugs and trafficking trends within the U.S.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram introduced the report to warn of the many threats to public safety as well as national security. “The shift from plant-based drugs, like heroin and cocaine, to synthetic, chemical-based drugs, like fentanyl and methamphetamine, has resulted in the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis the United States has ever faced,” Milgram said. “At the heart of the synthetic drug crisis are the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels and their associates, who DEA is tracking world-wide. The suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and money launderers all play a role in the web of deliberate and calculated treachery orchestrated by these cartels. DEA will continue to use all available resources to target these networks and save American lives.”

Individual chapters include the Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels and their reach within the U.S., and individual substances such as fentanyl, nitazenes, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, “marijuana,” controlled prescription drugs, new psychoactive substances, illicit finance, and DEA response.

The chapter on cannabis explained that legalization on a state level illegal cannabis continues to thrive. “Despite these measures, the black market for marijuana continues, with substantial trafficking by Mexican cartels, and Chinese and other Asian organized crime groups profiting from illegal cultivation and sales, as well as exploitation of the ‘legal’ market,” the DEA wrote. “The price of marijuana in illegal U.S. markets has remained largely stable for years, even as the potency of marijuana has increased exponentially.”

The administration noted the increase in “average Delta-9 THC Potency in Marijuana” between 1977-2022, as according to information provided by the University of Mississippi Marijuana Potency Monitoring Program. In 1977, the percentage of potency was recorded at approximately 1%, followed by approximately 3% in 1982, 1987, and 1992. This rose to 4% in 1997, 6% in 2002, 8% in 2007, 12% in 2012, 15% in 2017, and finally 16% in 2022. “The potency of THC in leafy marijuana is at an all-time high, increasing the potential risk of negative effects on users of any form of the drug, and on children who may consume edibles made with these substances,” the DEA stated.

The rest of the DEA report focuses on Asian organized crime and illegal cultivation. “Many of these home-grows pretend to operate under business registrations granted by state licensing authorities in jurisdictions where marijuana cultivation and sales are ‘legal’ at the state level but, absent overt evidence such as the trafficking of marijuana across state lines or the commission of non-drug crimes such as money laundering and human trafficking, it can be difficult for law enforcement to immediately identify violations or discover an illegal grow,” the DEA explained. The administration’s Dallas Division seized $2.8 million in cannabis linked to four Chinese nationals growing illegally in Oklahoma. Two of those nationals were convicted of drug trafficking in January 2024.

The report also described the rise in emergency room visits by children, as well as the environmental damage caused by illegal cultivation.

The University of Mississippi’s potency percentages pale in comparison to the potency percentages of current cannabis strains. In March, a study analyzed Colorado cannabis samples to determine if the THC percentages were accurate, and found that more than 70% of products were at least 15% higher than reported. Many THC potency reports showed a range between 12.8%-19.3%, as well as a higher range of 28.07%-31.28%. “THC levels averaged 9.75% back in 2009, based on testing of DEA-seized cannabis flower,” wrote report author Anna Schwabe, a professor at University of Colorado, Boulder. “Today, levels reportedly surpass 35%, though they’re not as common as consumers have been led to believe. DEA-seized cannabis flower averaged 13.88% in 2019, which is closer to my observed mean of 14.98% than the reported mean of my samples, which was 20.27%-24.10%.”

According to Headset data obtained by SFGATE, the median THC potency for cannabis has decreased over the past six months in California, with a 7% decrease in the past three months. In December, the average potency levels were recorded at 30.7%, but dropped to 28.5% in March. The potency shifted due to new regulations on cannabinoid testing, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. According to Zach Eisenberg, Anresco Laboratories vice president, the potency decrease was an expected result. “We certainly heard from customers and potential customers that they’re seeing potency values dropping at other laboratories,” Eisenberg said to SFGATE. “Some labs were even proactively saying, ‘Be prepared for our results to be lower after this change.’”

In reality, the more recent reports are just reflecting current potency percentages. “I highly doubt anything has changed in terms of the actual composition of the cannabis products,” Eisenberg told SFGATE. High Times received a statement from Vicente LLP attorney Andrea Golan, based in Los Angeles, about the recent change. “For years, the efficacy of cannabis lab test results has been widely discussed across the California cannabis industry due to inflated potency test results and inconsistencies in results due to labs using different methodologies for testing cannabis,” Golan said. “The change in law ends the practice of shopping for labs with less strict testing methods in order to inflate THC content. Therefore, rather than cannabis getting weaker, recent changes may now provide a more accurate reflection of true potency.”

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The Connecticut House of Representatives this week passed a bill to regulate ingestible hemp products, with lawmakers saying the legislation is necessary to protect the public from the potentially harmful effects of hemp-derived cannabinoids. The House approved the measure, House Bill 5150, by a vote of 130-16 on Tuesday, less than three months after it was introduced in the legislature by the House General Law Committee. The legislation now heads to the Connecticut Senate for consideration.

Hemp agriculture and products made from hemp were legalized more than five years ago with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill by the U.S. Congress. Since then, a multitude of ingestible hemp products, many with intoxicating cannabinoids, have been introduced to the market, with widespread availability at retailers including convenience stores, gas stations and smoke shops. Representative Mike D’Agostino, one of the lead sponsors of the bill, said that legislation is needed to put controls on the unregulated market for hemp-derived cannabinoid products.

“We can’t ban them, but we can regulate the hell out of them,” said Democratic Representative Mike D’Agostino, the co-chair of the General Law Committee, according to a report from the Hartford Courant. “We say, OK, those products need to be manufactured in accordance with our standards. They need to be labeled in accordance with our standards they have to be to have disclosures in accordance with our standards.”

The legislation would regulate hemp products including THC-infused beverages, limiting the sale of certain products to adults age 21 and older. The bill also redefines and expands the definition of high-THC hemp products, which are more tightly regulated than others. Additionally, the bill establishes a new category of THC “which it classifies as an ‘infused beverage’ and requires it to meet many of the requirements for manufacturers of hemp products,” according to an Office of Legislative Research report cited by CT News Junkie.

Bill Sets THC Potency Limit

The legislation sets a uniform potency limit for hemp-derived products of one milligram of THC per serving. Products with more THC per serving than the limit would be classified as high-THC products, which would only be available at medical marijuana dispensaries or licensed cannabis retailers, which were established following the legalization of recreational marijuana in Connecticut in 2021. 

The bill also defines unregulated sales of cannabis and hemp products as violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, a change that makes it easier for the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection and the attorney general to take unauthorized products off the market.

“We need to make sure that the rules are being followed, that there’s not a product out there that is unregulated, that is being sold to minors, that is being sold in convenience stores, that is outside of the strict structures that we created,” D’Agostino said.

The legislation includes “provisions that allow towns to now go to court and seek to shutter the doors of these vape shops that are selling cannabis or other stores that are selling illegal cannabis, and the towns can get a piece of the revenue and fines that can be levied with respect to that enforcement,” according to the D’Agostino.

“If you’re a town that’s approved legal cannabis, the last thing you want is next door a vape shop that’s selling a competing illegal product,” he added.

The hemp product regulation bill also sets standards for the labeling of hemp products and amends some rules governing the cultivation of cannabis by social equity licensees. D’Agostino noted that the laws and regulations governing cannabis products and sales will continue to evolve, just as they have for other regulated products.

“The liquor laws have been evolving over time for decades since Prohibition ended. We’re three years into this process,” D’Agostino said. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: We’re going to keep coming back and back in this chamber with respect to our cannabis laws and how they evolve and how we respond to that marketplace and make sure we remain in control of it.”

State Representative Dave Rutigliano of Trumbull, the ranking Republican on the General Law Committee, is one of many GOP lawmakers who opposed the legalization of marijuana in Connecticut but voted in favor of the hemp products regulation bill.

“It’s already legal. We can’t make it unlegal. So what we’ve decided to do is try to regulate it in a way that makes a safer environment for everyone,” Rutigliano said. “Our goal this year, as it was last year, is to get THC products, intoxicating products out of our supermarkets, convenience stores and gas stations, to put it in a place where it’s regulated, where it’s taxed and controlled.”

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The Iowa state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill to cap the THC potency of consumable hemp products, sending the measure to the desk of Republican Governor Kim Reynolds for consideration. The legislation, House File 2605, was passed by the Senate by a vote of 31-18 after receiving approval from the Iowa House of Representatives last month.

If signed into law by the governor, the measure would amend the Iowa Hemp Act to cap the THC potency of hemp products at 4 milligrams per serving, with a maximum limit of 10 milligrams per package. The legislation also requires warning labels on hemp product packaging and sets a minimum age of 21 to purchase hemp products containing THC. Additionally, the bill adds new restrictions and sanctions related to the manufacturing, possession and sales of consumable hemp products, including penalties for businesses that sell such products without first registering with state regulators.

Republican Senator Dan Dawson, the sponsor of House File 2605, said the bill is “desperately needed regulation.”

“There has to be some type of guardrails on here,” he said, the Des Moines Register reported on Tuesday.

The senator said that the bill is needed to maintain separation between over-the-counter hemp products and those regulated by the medicinal cannabidiol (CBD) program, which was passed by state lawmakers in 2014 to legalize the possession of low-THC CBD products for medicinal purposes.

“The Iowa Hemp Act, or the program that we’re talking about here today, needs to be at a milligram usage less than our medical cannabidiol program, otherwise the lines are blurred,” argued Dawson, according to a report from online news source We Are Iowa.

“The medical cannabidiol program actually puts an individual with a doctor to get these products, that’s the biggest distinction,” added Dawson, the Capital Dispatch reported on Tuesday. “The Iowa hemp program has none of those barriers there. So if we want to protect Iowans with these products … there has to be some type of guardrails on here, to make sure that the medical cannabidiol program is the program that we can direct Iowans to when they have one of these diagnosed conditions.”

Lawmaker Warns of Bill’s ‘Unintended Consequences’

During a House debate on the bill last month, Democratic Representative John Forbes told his colleagues that he has concerns the bill will have “unintended consequences” for people who use hemp products outside of the state’s regulated cannabidiol program, including people who are using THC or CBD to help them recover from opioid addiction. 

“I think we’re not hitting the nail on the head here, when it comes to being able to help Iowans that are seeking out this as an alternative to maybe taking other prescription medications, and increasing quality of life, helping them,” Forbes said.

Forbes also noted that many CBD products come in formulations such as capsules with 2 to 4 milligrams of THC per serving. Under House Bill 2605’s provisions, such products would only be available in packages of two to five capsules, a restriction that many manufacturers would find overly burdensome. If the bill is signed into law, many consumers may find that the hemp products they are accustomed to purchasing may no longer be available in Iowa.

“It does have a major impact on, I think, the people here in the state of Iowa that sought out ways to manage their health issues,” Forbes said, according to a report from The Gazette. “A lot of the people that go to these do purchase them because they’ve been on chronic pain medications and they’re trying to reduce that.”

“This legislation will make it much more difficult for people in the state of Iowa,” he added. “They’re going to go out and buy this stuff online … they won’t have a business they can go into.”

In the upper chamber of the state legislature, Republican Senator Tom Shipley said that when he helped draft the Iowa Hemp Act in 2019, he knew that there were “some nefarious motives behind this,” including some businesses that had plans to sell products that were not covered by the law.

“We found out some people could find an angle to get around things and do things that are not good for Iowans,” Shipley said. “And I just want to stand up in support of Senator Dawson’s bill to try and close some of these loopholes that even I could figure out were coming.”

In addition to regulating hemp products that are being used by consumers therapeutically, supporters of the legislation said it is needed to help protect those who choose to use hemp recreationally. Dawson said the bill is “desperately needed regulation on this industry, to not only protect industry but also to protect the consumers who might indulge in these products.”

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A Republican-backed proposal in Florida to impose limits on THC potency in marijuana appears to have flamed out in the state’s legislative session.

GOP lawmakers there introduced two measures –– House Bill 1269 and Senate Bill 7050 –– that would “sought to preemptively ban adults’ access to cannabis flower products containing more than 30 percent THC,” according to NORML.

Recreational cannabis for adults remains illegal in Florida, although voters in the Sunshine State could have the opportunity to change that come November. 

The Florida Supreme Court is set to hand down a ruling on whether or not a proposed amendment to legalize cannabis for adults aged 21 and older in the state will qualify for this year’s ballot.

But with the legislative session winding down for the year, the proposals appear all but dead. 

According to local outlet Florida Politics, a key legislative committee “never found space on a Senate Fiscal Policy agenda” for the THC cap proposals. And with the committee’s final meeting slated for Tuesday, that means “the THC caps appear to have burned out before advancing to the Senate floor,” the outlet said.

Advocates of the would-be ballot proposal celebrated the death of the measures.

“We are pleased the voters may have an opportunity to vote on adult use prior to potential implementation language being decided on,” said Steve Vancore, a spokesperson for  medical cannabis provider Trulieve, as quoted by Florida Politics.

NORML was particularly outspoken in its opposition to the THC caps. In a letter sent to Florida lawmakers more than 2,000 times during this legislative session, the group urged the legislature to not “stifle the adult-use cannabis market before Floridians have even had a chance to vote for it.” 

“Prohibiting adults from accessing these products from state-licensed retailers will not eliminate consumers’ demand for them. Rather, it will encourage consumers to seek out high-THC products in the unregulated market. It will also move the production of these products exclusively underground. This undermines the primary goal of legalization, which is to provide patients with safe, above-ground access to lab-tested products of known purity, potency, and quality.”

NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano articulated the group’s opposition to THC caps in a letter to the editor published this month in the Boston Globe.

 “Unlike alcohol, THC is incapable of causing lethal overdose in humans. This fact is acknowledged by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which has concluded, ‘No deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported.’ Typically, when consumers encounter higher-potency products, they consume lesser quantities of them. … Rather than banning these products, regulators should provide the public with better safety information about the effects of more potent products, and they should continue to ensure that legal products do not get diverted to the youth market,” Armentano wrote.

Another Florida-based outlet, The Spacecoast Rocket, provided more background on the legislative effort to cap THC:

“The legislative journey for THC cap proposals began with the introduction of SB 7050 in the Senate, spearheaded by the Senate Health Policy Committee. The bill aimed to establish strict limits on the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content in cannabis products available in the state. THC is the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana, responsible for the high that users experience. Proponents of the bill argued that capping THC levels would help mitigate potential health risks associated with high-potency marijuana, particularly among younger users. Despite these concerns, SB 7050 encountered significant hurdles in the legislative process. The bill’s progress was halted as it failed to secure a spot on the agenda of the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee. With the legislative session’s committee meetings drawing to a close and no further meetings anticipated, the bill’s advancement has been effectively suspended.”

The Florida Supreme Court has until April 1 to make a ruling on the proposed adult-use marijuana amendment. Both sides made oral arguments before the court last November. 

The proposal is facing a challenge from state Attorney General Ashley Moody, who filed a lawsuit to  in May 2023 to block the marijuana amendment.

USA Today Network reported that Moody argued “that the proposed ballot language was not clear and didn’t stick to a single subject requirement.” 

“Attorneys for the state expanded on that before the Supreme Court, saying the wording didn’t make it clear that marijuana was still illegal under federal law and that the amendment would empower the small cartel that currently supplies medical marijuana,” the outlet said. “Moody previously has said the measure would give an unfair advantage to the state’s largest marijuana purveyor, Trulieve, which contributed all but 124 dollars of the $39 million raised to promote the amendment.”

USA Today Network noted that the Supreme Court justices “appeared to favor the amendment” during oral arguments. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis predicted last month that the court will approve the amendment, clearing the way for it to make the ballot in November. 

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