Chi-Town's hemp heist might just be the tip of the iceberg. A telling research conducted in Chicago reveals that what's sold as hemp could be more potent than your regular jazz cabbage. Apparently, there's a whole tambourine shaking in smoke shops and gas stations with products that scream "relaxation" and "buzz," but a study from the University of Illinois Chicago laid out the truth—and it's not looking good for label trustworthiness.
Caught in the act by scientist Jennifer Bash, most of the so-called hemp products tested packed a way higher punch than the legal limit of 0.3% THC. A parallel beef by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) found a whopping 92% of "hemp" samples from online vendors should be classified as the more fun brother, marijuana, according to a national study. The fuzzy area between Mary Jane and her straight-edge cousin hemp is proving to be a real slippery slope.
Bash's cringe-worthy discoveries were made all the more unsettling given the recent hospitalization of five students in a Uptown high school—victims of these deceptively packaged edibles. "People just have no idea what they’re putting in their bodies, and that’s just terrifying," Bash told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Law enforcement's got a bone to pick with this, too. Sgt. Ari Briskman, speaking with the same Chicago outlet, described the current market as "this Wild West atmosphere," where retailers are marking their territory with little to no oversight. Ald. Brian Hopkins chimes in, stressing how consumers are clueless about what they're buying and dispensaries are losing out, not to mention the taxman missing a slice of the $451.9 million pie. Hopkins has whipped up a couple of ordinances to contain this circus, but the grander scheme of things calls for a full-blown regulatory overhaul.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford is stepping into the fray with a bill aimed at reining in the hemp wildlings. The goal? To ensure everything's tested and labeled properly, tax it, and sell it only to the 21-and-over crowd. Ford's offering the bill as a lifeline for those scratching their heads over public safety and the fact that kids can snag this stuff as easily as a candy bar.
Meanwhile, the NIJ-sponsored study spotlights the cloudy waters that Crime Scene Guys are navigating to separate the wheat from the chaff—or should we say, the hemp from the pot. With personal and medical ganja enjoying a "green rush" in several states, the rush is on to come up with a way to spot the difference that doesn't involve flipping a coin. It's high time; after all, police chiefs across the country face the daunting tasks of adjusting to the gray zones created by the shifting sands of cannabis law.
