(Radio Iowa) – New state rules regulating hemp products have gone into effect this week. Iowa Hemp Alliance spokesperson Theresa Harms says up to 80 percent of the products at the businesses who’ve joined the group are prohibited under the new regulations. “Producers and retailers of consumable hemp products will now be forced to dispose of a substantial portion of their inventory,” Harms says, “even though these products are currently permitted at the federal level.” Harms says the state regulations conflict with federal limits outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill and were not fully revealed to the public until this week.

In mid-May Governor Reynolds signed the law to limit the amount of T-H-C — the ingredient that causes the high — that can be in consumable hemp products sold in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services rules have a per serving limit is four milligrams of T-H-C. Hemp retailers say that limit is not in the law and they’ve sued. Scott Selix is the co-founder of a company that makes the hemp infused “Climbing Kites” beverage. Selix says 90 percent of his products are now illegal in Iowa, he’s had to pull them out of hundreds of Iowa stores — and the warning labels the agency will require in September weren’t revealed until Tuesday.

Hemp infused products (IPR photo)

“We would tell the department all of this if they would just respond. Every time we reach out and say: ‘Please don’t do this. Please listen to us.” They say: ‘No, there’s ongoing litigation,'” Selix says. “And we’re saying: ‘We’re only litigating because you’re not listening.'” Climbing Kites had been brewed in Des Moines, but Selix says operations have been moved to Illinois and Ohio to avoid the risk of arrest. “We are the fastest growing hemp manufacturing company in the country,” Selix says. “We’re an Iowa company. I own Iowa restaurants and breweries. I invest in real estate in Des Moines, but I can’t keep this company here.”

Four Democrats on the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee voted this week to delay the regulations, but majority Republicans on the panel agreed to let the state’s new hemp rules take effect immediately.