Unregulated retailers in Missouri are selling illegal marijuana products while claiming they are federally legal “hemp,” a new report claims.
Misleading labels allow shady sellers to dodge regulations like lab testing and avoid paying marijuana taxes, according to the Missouri Hemp Hoax Report, written by legal cannabis industry trade association MoCannTrade.
“This report shows a blatant disregard for the law and for the health and safety of Missouri consumers,” Andrew Mullins, executive director of MoCannTrade, said in a statement.
Considered one of the legal industry’s success stories, Missouri recorded nearly $1.5 billion in legal adult-use and medical marijuana sales in 2024, the market’s second year of operation.
But amid the rise of competition from hemp-derived THC alternatives including beverages as well as edibles and flower – and mainstream retailers’ embrace of hemp THC – many cannabis industry advocates are sounding the alarm.
Products claiming federal hemp protections qualify as marijuana
To compile the Hemp Hoax Report, MoCannTrade sent 55 products from smoke shops, gas stations and unlicensed dispensaries across the state to licensed testing labs.
The labs discovered that 96% of the products weren’t legal hemp, but instead met the definition of marijuana or contained synthetic THC, according to the report.
To legally qualify as hemp under federal law, a cannabis product can’t have more than 0.3% of total THC.
But many of the products blew past that limit, according to the report. One contained 89% THC – 298 times the legal amount.
On top of that, nearly one-third of the products tested positive for dangerous contaminants like pesticides, heavy metals and leftover solvents, the report claims.
Echoing complaints made in Congress, where some Republican lawmakers are seeking to amend the federal definition of hemp, many of the products were packaged to look like popular candy brands that may appeal to children, MoCannTrade claimed.
Some of the unregulated products also come from out of state and overseas – including from China, the report claimed.
Will Missouri lawmakers crack down on hemp-derived THC?
Several efforts to regulate hemp-derived THC products – and set state-specific standards in Missouri – have failed in the state Legislature.
However, lawmakers have recently reintroduced bills that would require hemp-derived THC products to be sold at state-licensed cannabis stores.
That would mean an end to the popular THC beverages served at bars and liquor stores in the state.
