JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Hemp Trade Association held a news conference Tuesday at the Missouri Capitol, calling on Gov. Mike Kehoe to veto a bill that would pull intoxicating hemp products from convenience stores, bars and restaurants statewide.
House Bill 2641 passed both chambers with wide margins and now sits on the governor’s desk. If the bill is signed, all intoxicating hemp products, including THC seltzers and edibles, would be removed from general store shelves starting Nov. 12. Sales would be restricted to licensed marijuana dispensaries.
The Missouri Hemp Trade Association delivered more than 10,000 handwritten letters Tuesday to the governor’s office, along with an additional 2,000 petition signatures. Craig Katz, secretary of the Missouri Hemp Trade Association and government relations manager at CBD Kratom, called it the largest handwritten letter campaign on any single subject in Missouri and United States history. Katz said the industry felt blindsided by the bill’s final language.
“By the time it made the Senate floor, it went into effect on Nov. 12 regardless of what the federal government did in the interim,” Katz said.
Jay Patel, with the Missouri Hemp Trade Association, said the hemp industry employs more than 10,000 Missourians, and all of those jobs are at risk if the bill is signed. Patel also said the organization is exploring legal options but declined to elaborate.
CBD Kratom, headquartered in St. Louis, is the largest privately owned company in the United States and employs more than 100 people locally and more than 500 nationally. Katz said a signing would force the company to relocate its headquarters, manufacturing and warehousing out of Missouri entirely.
The bill also affects farmers. Association members said Missouri hemp farmers who grow crops specifically for these products would lose their primary retail market overnight, leaving them with no buyers outside of the dispensary channel.
A veterans advocacy foundation also spoke at the press conference, urging the governor to consider the health implications for Missouri’s veteran community.
Executive Director of Grunt Style Foundation William Wisner, who is a toxic exposure veteran from Iraq, said hemp and CBD products have provided him relief from inflammation, neurological issues and cancer related to his service. He said psychotropic medications prescribed through the VA carry serious side effects, and hemp-based remedies offer an alternative path to healing for many veterans.
“We are losing between 22 to 40 veterans a day,” Wisner said. “By removing the accessibility of these types of remedies, especially if you are in a rural area where you cannot just drive to your local dispensary, that is a considerable hurdle.”
The association said it has a call scheduled with the governor’s office Wednesday and hopes to explain the full economic and personal impact of the bill before Kehoe makes a decision.
