Politics
Dear lawmakers, while you needlessly reinvent the wheel on hemp regulation, kids are being poisoned
As lawmakers convened for the 2025 Legislative Session, some were pulled into workshops discussing hemp regulation.
It seems like a waste of time.
Legislators in both the upper and lower chambers already litigated this last year, passing a bill with bipartisan support that would have imposed limits on high-inducing THC and placed restrictions on packaging appealing to kids. Simply put, it would have regulated an industry that has gone without rules for far too long. It got vetoed.
Republican Rep. Bill Partington perhaps put it best on Tuesday, asking a very salient question.
“How did we come to marijuana being so heavily regulated and hemp being the Wild West in Florida?”
In his veto last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis cited the possible blow to small businesses that sell hemp products. But he also provided lawmakers with all they need to pass legislation this year that he would be willing to sign, going so far as writing in his veto letter that “I encourage the Florida Legislature to reconsider this topic” and offering something of a blueprint.
“Sensible, non-arbitrary regulation will provide businesses and consumers alike with much-needed stability — safeguarding public health and safety, allowing legitimate industry to flourish, and removing bad actors from the market,” he wrote, adding three items to consider in new legislation: quality control, labeling marketing and packaging, and retail sales.
The Governor called for a bill that set quality standards to “ensure the purity, potency, and safety of hemp and hemp-derived products,” including random inspections along with repeated testing of products. He also wrote that he’s looking for “guidelines for accurate labeling,” including product contents and sources and any health claims and dosing instructions. He also called for behind-counter sales and a ban on sales near schools.
With a clear blueprint from the Governor, and a Legislature that has already shown willingness to pass legislation, why all the teeth-gnashing? And PS, there’s already legislation this year to consider (SB 1030 and HB 334, 438 and 601).
Why form a special committee and then note, as House Speaker Daniel Perez did when he formed the committee, that there will be no preconceived notions? There are preconceived notions. DeSantis provided all the info needed to create a bill that meets lawmakers’ established goals, while also remedying the Governor’s past concerns.
And it’s imperative that this get done.
As I drive around St. Pete, I see smoke shops, corner gas stations, hookah bars and other businesses peddling largely unregulated hemp products, brazenly announcing “no medical card needed!”
Other than age restrictions, these stores are essentially being given license to sell products ranging from “trippy mushrooms” to “full strength THC gummies,” all while being packaged in ways that still appeal to kids, and at dosing levels that would make even the staunches of wake-and-bake stoners blush.
How can this be, especially in a state that so tightly regulates medical marijuana?
The problem started with the 2018 Farm Bill, which established a federal framework for producing and processing versatile hemp crops. It included a so-called “loophole” that allowed the production of non-cannabis hemp extract products that compete with cannabis products.
Now, our state government has the opportunity to catch up, through sensible regulation that keeps businesses open, but without selling products that could be dangerous to consumers or risk kids getting their hands on pot-adjacent products.
Like medical marijuana, state law strictly regulates beer and wine sales. Everything from packaging limits to where harder booze can be sold has a rule. But here we are with high-inducing products available for sale as easy as grabbing a soda and candy bar on a road trip.
So to Florida lawmakers who for the next two months will be setting about the business of making the state run, this should be one of your easier tasks. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel because you already invented it, and the Governor told you how to tweak it to get it across the finish line.
So instead of a start-from-scratch approach, maybe you should be running — not walking — to that checkered flag. Because the longer you twiddle your thumbs workshopping something that’s already been workshopped, kids are overdosing and being poisoned by hemp products.
And I know, there’s a powerful hemp lobby that will continue to cry doom for small businesses. But pish posh, I say. Sensible regulations didn’t hurt medical marijuana treatment centers, nor did they cripple small businesses selling beer and wine, or even cigarettes.
Instead remember this: Certainty is actually good for business.
You know what’s not good for business? Sick kids.
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Attorney General James Uthmeier is using the “full force of law” in an “active criminal investigation” of Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate.
“These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recently appointed AG.
“Many of these victims are coming forward, some of them minors. People can spin or defend however they want, but in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious. We’re not going to accept it.”
The Tates, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, arrived Thursday in Fort Lauderdale after authorities lifted travel restrictions on the siblings. Their departure from Europe happened soon after Donald Trump envoy Richard Grenell reportedly met with a Romanian official earlier this year, seemingly easing the way for their return to the U.S.
“They chose to come here and set their feet down in this state, and we’re going to pursue every tool we have within our legal authority to hold them accountable,” Uthmeier said.
“So we are in the process today. We have secured and executed subpoenas and warrants, and we’re going to continue to move forward with full force of law. This is an ongoing criminal investigation and we’re going to use every tool we have to ensure that justice is served.”
During a press conference last Thursday, DeSantis denounced the Tates and said then Uthmeier is exploring “what state hooks and jurisdiction we may have to be able to deal with this.”
He also expressed “confidence” that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem “will be looking at that,” though it’s not immediately clear what the federal officials might do.
“Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air, and I don’t know how it came to this. We were not involved, we were not notified. I found out through the media that this was something that was happening,” DeSantis said Thursday at Camp Blanding.
The Tates — who are dual U.S.-British citizens — were arrested in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they allegedly were sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny the allegations.
In December, a court ruled that the case could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors. The case, however, remained open, along with another ongoing investigation against them in Romania.
Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors approved a request to change the travel restrictions on the Tates, but it did not say who made the request.
Andrew Tate, a 38-year-old former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He and 36-year-old Tristan Tate are vocal supporters of Trump.
Andrew Tate contrasted Trump, who was “such a boss” in facilitating his travel, to DeSantis, who he claimed overstepped his authority.
“I don’t know why Ron’s answer wasn’t, ‘He has an American passport. The judicial system in Romania, which I know absolutely nothing about, decided to let him fly, and he’s flown to his home country. As far as we’re concerned, he’s broken no laws,’” Tate said on the PBD Podcast, as transcribed by The Associated Press.
“Instead, what he did was say: ‘We’re going to get our attorney general to try and find some laws he’s broken and wreck this man who’s done nothing inside of the United States ever.’”
Tate’s statement does not seem to have dissuaded DeSantis and Uthmeier from taking decisive action.
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Material from The Associated Press was used in this report. Republished with permission.
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While Gov. Ron DeSantis called for expanding gun rights, no open carry legislation was filed for consideration this year. That has Second Amendment activists angry at lawmakers who voiced support for such a change in the past.
Specifically, groups like Florida Gun Rights have critiqued Rep. Monique Miller, a Brevard County Republican who said she intended to file an open carry bill but did not do so before a deadline ahead of the Legislative Session.
“Rep Monique Miller refused to file an open carry bill this session after she promised to do so,” said gun rights activist Matt Collins. “She sent the bill to the legislative drafting department but did not actually file it prior to Friday’s deadline. Insiders report that Rep Randy Fine instructed her not to actually file the bill as part of his spat with Governor DeSantis (who supports open carry).”
The group incorrectly identified Fine as a member of the House. He is now in the Senate.
Miller, for her part, said she remains a supporter of allowing individuals to open carry firearms, but said there isn’t a viable path for the bill this year.
“I am a staunch advocate of open carry,” Miller said. “I recognize it will take a concerted effort over time to get it done, and I’m in it for the long haul.”
Miller was the second lawmaker to commit to open carry legislation in the House. Former Rep. Joel Rudman, a Navarre Republican, filed such a bill ahead of Session. But it and all of his legislation was withdrawn after he resigned to run for Congress.
Senate President Ben Albritton reiterated as much on the first day of Session, making clear that the upper chamber of the Legislature won’t consider open carry legislation this year. He warned that Florida is very diverse with a wide range of “how society would accept that.”
“Orlando is not Pensacola, and certainly Tallahassee is not Okeechobee,” Albritton said following DeSantis’ State of the State.
“Another complication is Florida brought in more than 140 million visitors last year. We’re a tourism state. That matters. So I’m working through that in my mind because the most important thing I want to do is to do what’s right. And certainly, the most important thing I don’t want to do is make a mistake.”
But DeSantis has said he would sign an open carry bill if it made it to his desk. While he didn’t specifically say anything about that in his State of the State address on Tuesday, he did suggest the Legislature revisit restrictions put in place after the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting under then-Gov. Rick Scott.
“We need to be a strong Second Amendment state,” DeSantis said. “I know many of you agree with it, and so let’s get some positive reform done for the people of this state of Florida.”
Miller, for her part, said she will fight this year to expand gun rights in Florida.
“I am delighted to sponsor three important bills this session to advance gun rights in Florida,” she said.
“HB 6025 will fully repeal the unconstitutional ban on sales of firearms and ammunition sales during declared emergencies. If passed, Floridians will be able to protect themselves, their families and their homes, in times of crisis, when needed most. Additionally, I sponsored HB 491, which will ban the use of AI cameras to detect concealed firearms, and I co-sponsored HB 759 which will restore the gun rights of young adults, age 18 to 20.”
That hasn’t eased frustrations of gun groups or conservative activists.
“Gun Owners of America backed Rep. Monique Miller and she promised to file our open carry bill,” posted Luis Valdes, Florida State Director of GOA. “She now says it isn’t the right time. If the Founders had that attitude, we’d be Canada.”
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