Regulators in Michigan announced on Friday that a plan to allow cannabinoids derived from hemp to be processed into THC would be withdrawn from consideration. The announcement came only two days after the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) was renamed and given new authority over the state’s hemp industry under an executive order issued by Governor Gretchen Witmer earlier this year.

Under proposed rules announced by the MRA in January, hemp growers would have been permitted to sell their crops to licensed cannabis processors, who would then use a laboratory process to convert cannabinoids such as CBD into THC. The agency, now named the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, announced on Friday that the plan would not be approved.

“After receiving a significant amount of public comment regarding safety concerns and the lack of scientific and public health data related to the conversion process outlined in the proposed industrial hemp rules … the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) has withdrawn this request for rulemaking,” the agency announced on Friday.

The plan would have given Michigan’s hemp farmers a new outlet for their crop, opening the state’s regulated cannabis market to products containing hemp-derived THC. But the proposal would also have created a more competitive marketplace for licensed pot growers, who face more stringent and expensive regulations than hemp farmers.

Cannabis Industry Against Proposal To Allow Hemp THC

The plan was opposed by representatives of the licensed cannabis industry, including Denise Policella of the Cannabis Business Association of Michigan, a trade group made up of licensed cannabis growers, processors and retailers. She told online news site MLive that the process to convert hemp cannabinoids into CBD produces unknown byproducts that may be harmful to consumers. Although the main crux of

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