News last week that Colorado state lawmakers might loosen restrictions they had imposed two years ago on intoxicating hemp products was both disappointing and troubling.

It’s disappointing because it would reverse rare progress by our usually THC-friendly legislature. It also would flout Congress’ overdue move earlier this month closing a loophole in federal law that had let the products proliferate.

And it’s troubling because THC juiced from hemp is a direct threat to all youth. Across the country, it has been turning up in the same products used for high-potency THC derived from pot — gummies and other edibles; vapes; even beverages. It is posing the same danger to our children’s brain development and mental health.

THC’s role inducing assorted psychoses, especially in young people, is substantiated by mounting data from a growing body of medical research. THC is found in the bloodstream of alarming percentages of teen suicides in Colorado in recent years, as state vital statistics make clear. And the last thing Colorado teens need is another intoxicant on our hazardous roadways.

In 2018, Congress legalized growing and selling hemp. The new law stipulated it may contain no more than 0.3% of the most common variant of THC, the psychoactive chemical it has in common with marijuana. The legislation neglected, however, to cap other variants of THC, and producers exploited the oversight by developing and selling intoxicating hemp products with higher levels of hemp’s other THC variants.

Congress closed that loophole in an amendment to a bill reopening the federal government. It banned all intoxicating hemp products with more than 0.4 milligrams of THC — about 95% of all such products on the market.

Colorado’s state law also has allowed for hemp production and sales, paralleling federal law. But in 2023, the state legislature clamped down following the recommendations of a state task force. The measure created a new regulatory framework for hemp products that included a prohibition on the sale of hemp-derived products with more than 1.75 milligrams of THC per serving.

That laudable stride cut at least one conduit of high-potency THC to Colorado’s youth. 

Congress’ act this month represented a stride for kids everywhere. Colorado’s 2023 law still allows producers to market high-potency products derived from hemp — so long as they are exported to other states. The new federal law’s 0.4 milligram, across-the-board cap on all THC varieties derived from hemp will shut that down. Good.

Of course, Colorado’s predatory pot industry is crying foul. Its pitchmen are claiming the combination of state and federal laws will stunt the development of potentially popular product lines like high-THC, hemp-based beverages. 

So, as reported last week by our news affiliate Colorado Politics, they are working with some of their industry’s reliable lackeys at the State Capitol to introduce a bill that would increase the THC content cap for hemp-derived beverages to 10 milligrams. Incredibly, the bill also would let all THC beverages, whether marijuana or hemp-based, be sold in liquor stores.

It would be a reckless move and a big setback for Colorado’s youth. Idle teens wouldn’t have to shoplift a beer from the corner convenience store; they could grab a hemp ale instead. 

Hemp as a crop makes some sense; its durable fiber has a high tensile strength and can be used in manufacturing a range of materials and products. But it must remain strictly regulated.

If regulation is a buzz kill for the THC trade, too bad. Colorado should put its kids first.