SUPPORT AB 8 / Intoxicating Hemp

• Urge your legislator to support AB 8 (Aguiar-Curry)

• Download CaCOA's co-sponsor support letter

• Download Aguiar-Curry's AB 8 fact sheet

• Explore the new white paper, The Great Hemp Hoax

CHALLENGE: Despite Governor Newsom's emergency regulations in October 2024, dangerous synthetic cannabinoids masquerading as "hemp" continue flooding California's market.

Recent research from "The Great Hemp Hoax" white paper reveals alarming findings from testing more than 100 intoxicating "hemp" products sold online and illegally shipped to California:

• 95% contained prohibited synthetic cannabinoids - more akin to street drugs than natural hemp

• Extreme potency levels up to 32 times higher than allowed under California law

• Nearly half contained THCP, estimated to be 30 times more intoxicating than THC

• Youth-targeted marketing with kid-friendly branding and flavors

• 91% evaded excise taxes and 80% shipped without age verification

These unregulated intoxicants create serious public health risks while undermining California's legal cannabis businesses and the regulated market that voters created through Proposition 64.

SOLUTION: Assembly Bill 8 (Aguiar-Curry), co-sponsored by CaCOA and supported by a coalition of over 500 licensed cannabis operators and 100 cannabis employees statewide, provides comprehensive reforms with the inclusion of technical amendments prepared by the Newsom Administration. This legislation reflects a hard-fought consensus among California's major cannabis trade associations, labor, and operators across the supply chain.

AB 8 builds on the enforcement framework of AB 45 (Aguiar-Curry, 2021) and fulfills a long-standing legislative commitment to integrate naturally occurring, non-intoxicating cannabinoids derived from hemp into the regulated cannabis supply chain.

Without AB 8, intoxicating hemp products will continue to evade testing, taxation, and oversight, threatening public health and further eroding the regulated market that California voters created. AB 8 offers a responsible, science-based, and enforceable path forward to protect consumers while supporting California's legal cannabis industry.