Paige Figi, the “mother of CBD,” says she is increasingly optimistic that Gov. Ron DeSantis will veto a bill she and other critics claim would effectively ban a medicine used by millions of patients.
“That’s what we asked for, in our emails and letters and phone calls to the governor’s office from consumers of CBD health products,” Figi said Friday.
The stated purpose of the bill (SB 1698) approved by the Florida Legislature in March is to outlaw synthetic chemicals in hemp that can induce euphoria, known as delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol.
But Figi, executive director of the pro-CBD group Coalition for Access Now, has argued the bill’s reduced legal limits of THC, the chemical that causes euphoria, would “wipe out” 95% of the CBD health industry in Florida, including many hemp growers.
“These companies are not going to change their entire product line to be able to just ship to Florida,” she said. “… These companies will not exist in Florida.”
CBS News Miami reported Friday that a DeSantis veto would likely be due to the bill’s potential effect on those businesses, and possibly even to create a possible coalition with hemp producers against the recreational marijuana amendment on the ballot in November.
“We’re just collateral damage from the fight between delta-8 hemp and cannabis,” said Figi, whose late daughter Charlotte took what became known as Charlotte’s Web, a form of non-euphoric CBD, to treat her severe epilepsy. “We’re always caught in the middle, and people need to stand up for those consumers.”
CBD could be banned in Florida if hemp bill passes, advocates warn
Figi has said the legislation either was inadvertently too broad or was specifically focused to target hemp growers, which would help larger medical marijuana dispensaries maintain their control. The recreational marijuana ballot initiative is being bankrolled by Trulieve, Florida’s largest medical pot dispensary.
DeSantis has opposed the amendment.
“This state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and towns,” he said in April. “It will reduce the quality of life. Do we want to have more marijuana in our communities?”
CBS News Miami reported that by vetoing the bill and helping the hemp industry, “DeSantis would be adopting a strategy akin to ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’” and could spur hemp growers to fund the campaign against recreational marijuana.
Governor’s office spokeswoman Julia Friedland would not comment on what action DeSantis plans to take. Katie Betta, a spokeswoman for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, said Passidomo’s office hadn’t yet received a request from the governor’s office to send him the bill.
Figi cited her organization’s previous lobbying of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, who amended a similar bill that reached his desk to remove the more sweeping language on CBDs.
“These Republican governors are against marijuana,” she said. “Gov. DeSantis is not a fan of cannabis. … [But] they are opening their eyes and changing their minds that maybe there are health products that come out of these plants that are non-intoxicating and safe.”
Fiji said she’s heard that the bill will likely be the last bill DeSantis makes a decision on before signing the budget, which he must do by July 1.
But, she said, “he was always likely to veto it. Because we’re bringing in scientists and consumers and logic and facts. And we do not speak to the financial part of this. We literally are just screaming for our lives here.”
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