HB2748
Illinois’ HB2748 raises the age for all hemp, CBD, and cannabis sales to 21. That’s fair, I support keeping “intoxicating” products out of kids’ hands. But let’s talk about the real issues buried in this bill: online loopholes, vague compliance rules, and yet another power grab over who controls the industry.
First, online sales are still wide open. Then there’s the training requirement for retailers because nothing says "support for small business" like forcing independent shops to pay for extra compliance costs just to keep selling something that was already legal. This bill makes it harder for small retailers to sell hemp products in person, but it does nothing to address online age verification. This bill ignores digital age checks, meaning anyone with a prepaid card can still order. If safety is the concern, why does the bill ignore the easiest way to bypass ID checks? Either someone forgot to close that gap, or they left it open on purpose.
Now here’s where it gets dangerous: who actually decides what’s compliant? This bill removes hemp’s protections under the Industrial Hemp Act and moves compliance decisions under the same framework as cannabis. That means the state’s cannabis regulators, who already have a track record of messy rollouts and delays will now get to decide what hemp products can stay on the market. What’s the testing standard? What qualifies as legal? Who gets to stay in business? That all depends on who’s interpreting the rules at any given time. With no clear testing standards in place, regulators could later impose expensive lab requirements that drive up costs for businesses and consumers, making once-affordable hemp products harder to access.
And the real kicker the same people who fought against hemp, lobbied to limit its market, & have the most to lose from its success are now the ones in charge of regulating it. The very industry that hemp disrupted now gets to determine the lifecycle of hemp products, decide who gets to sell them, and dictate what’s “compliant.” That’s like asking the Eagles’ coach to call the offensive plays for the Kansas City Chiefs… actually, wait… that might have worked out better than what happened.
So who benefits here? Because it’s not the farmers, the small businesses, or the consumers who rely on CBD for pain relief, anxiety, or sleep. It’s certainly not the independent retailers who now have to deal with increased compliance costs while big players get an easier path. It’s the same people who’ve spent years trying to shut hemp down, and now they get to control it instead.
And funny how every new hemp bill looks exactly like the last one, same loopholes, same vague language, same power shift to the same people. Almost like this was the plan all along.
104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB2748 by Rep. Rita Mayfield, MBA, MSOB/OD
Read it for yourself here: https://lnkd.in/gGaphssB
Thanks for F'nAround with me again...