WSLCB - Board Caucus
(May 25, 2021) - Hemp Biomass and THC

Board members considered “two separate issues” raised by the process of converting hemp biomass into cannabinoids leading up to a deliberative dialogue on cannabis plant chemistry.

Here are some observations from the Tuesday May 25th Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) board caucus.

My top 2 takeaways:

• Board Member Russ Hauge shared more information about hemp biomass conversion into “intoxicating substances" including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC). 
  • The issue of conversion of hemp crops into cannabinoids was last discussed by board members on May 18th. The subject was discussed publicly by agency staff in November 2020 around the time officials began developing a draft policy statement focused on delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-THC). Staff emails indicate the issue was discussed within the agency for several months prior.
  • Connection difficulties resulted in incomplete audio for approximately 30 seconds near the beginning of Hauge’s remarks. He noted that the “hemp-based biomass issue” involved “excess” material sourced “from legal hemp farming.” Familiarity with the process of converting the biomass into “delta-8-THC to become slightly intoxicating, or, I don’t know how intoxicating” was “being spread around the country and it is in our market, perhaps in our stores,” Hauge stated. He felt as regulators “of intoxicating substances we should be very concerned about that” (audio - 3m).
    • In addition, Hauge suggested the “other issue” was that “it is much cheaper to produce delta-9 from hemp-based biomass than it is from cannabis.” He considered this possibility a “trickier question because reasonable minds can differ on what we should do.”
    • Hauge said some stakeholders had voiced the opinion that “it’s just progress, and this is the way the market’s gonna go and everybody’s got to stand by,” whereas a counterargument he’d heard was “we’ve got a market here, limited to the state of Washington, and it is based upon farmers of different size and processors of different size and the introduction of a much, much cheaper source of THC delta-9, isolate, or distillate, is going to really disrupt that market.”
    • While not rendering a judgement on those arguments, he commented that he was seeing “two separate issues that we need to address in different ways:”
      • “Delta-8 coming into the market in intoxicating quantities”
      • “Hemp-based biomass being turned into delta-9 at a price that is much cheaper than...utilizing regulated cannabis biomass.”
    • A March 2019 fact sheet on hemp from the U.S. Congressional Research Service noted “More than 480 natural components are found within the Cannabis sativa plant, of which 66 are classified as cannabinoids” and identified major cannabinoid subgroups and their known variants.
    • In 2010, Dutch researchers released a report, Chemistry of Cannabis, that found delta-8-THC possessed “a similar pharmacological profile and slightly lower psychoactive potency” than delta-9-THC.
  • Board Chair David Postman was curious to hear stakeholder views on the issue, asking Hauge, “are you hearing from current licensees who are sort of pro-delta-8? Who are saying ‘yep, let it go, we need this’...or is it mostly people who are outside the current licensed scheme?” (audio - 2m)
    • Hauge replied that he wasn’t hearing from license holders as much as “people who have a financial stake in turning hemp-based biomass into delta-9 to be utilized in our regulated market.” He added that these people were “making a lot of money, apparently, and want to keep doing that. However, they’re not license holders, as I understand, right now.”
    • Hauge was still uncertain about “how hemp-based, derived, delta-9 is coming into our system, but it is” and the logistics of its prevalence in the legal market was “the first question to answer.”
    • He felt there were licensees positioned to “take advantage of the scale of the market,” which he anticipated would “change when hemp-based isolate or distillate for delta-9 replaces cannabis-based biomass.” Larger businesses were “going to make a lot of money,” Hauge expected, but licensees “not able to take advantage of that,” or who had been “counting on raising cannabis and making ends meet by selling cannabis-based biomass after you sell the bud, then you’re in trouble" .
    • A group of stakeholders critical of cannabinoids converted from hemp biomass addressed the board on April 14th whereas a hemp processor spoke to the perceived merits of the practice on May 26th.

• Policy and Rules Manager Kathy Hoffman briefed on the status of the open agency rulemaking around THC and an approaching deliberative dialogue session with experts and stakeholders (audio - 1m).
  • The rulemaking project, part of the agency response to converted cannabinoids, was opened by the board on May 12th.
  • Hoffman relayed that no comments had been received on “THC isomers beyond delta-9” and that a deliberative dialogue remained scheduled for Thursday June 3rd at 9:30am. She said the dialogue would address “cannabis plant chemistry” and feature a “well qualified and diverse group of experts to keep the focus on” plant science including key topics such as “isomerization, the differences between heat and solvent processes, and by-products of conversion.” Hoffman commented that staff were “committed to grounding this work in fact and data.”

Information Set