Floridians will still be able to buy and use delta-8 and other hemp products, after Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vetoed a bill that sought to reshape Florida’s marketplace.

As the bill, SB 1698, moved through Florida’s legislative process, it was opposed by consumers who said they need the products for their physical and mental health and by businesses who said it would cause thousands of Floridians to lose their jobs.

DeSantis, based on his veto letter, seemed to agree. In the letter, DeSantis said the bill would “impose debilitating regulatory burdens on small businesses” and would “introduce dramatic disruption and harm to many small retail and manufacturing businesses in Florida.”

A study commissioned by a hemp trade group found that Florida’s hemp market racked up more than $10 billion in sales in 2022 and employed more than 100,000 people.

DeSantis said he would encourage the Legislature to return to the topic next session to create a regulatory framework for Florida’s hemp marketplace.

“Sensible, non-arbitrary regulation will provide businesses and consumers alike with much-needed stability — safeguarding public health and safety, allowing legitimate industry to flourish, and removing bad actors from the market,” DeSantis said.

He listed three areas he would like the Legislature to focus on: quality control, product packaging requirements and looking at how and where hemp products are sold.

As of early this week, the governor’s office had received more than 13,000 calls, emails and letters from people and groups pushing for a veto. Fewer than 100 people reached out to his office in support of the bill.

Those opposed to the bill included a group of consumers who were fearful that if passed, the bill could affect CBD, which doesn’t have a psychoactive effect.

The bill sought to ban the sale of delta-8 hemp products, which can create a “high” sensation, and also would have banned hemp products with other cannabinoids including delta-10, THC-V and THC-P. It also would have limited the strength of the hemp products still allowed.

Because the cannabis plant contains more than 100 cannabinoids, small levels of those cannabinoids may exist in nonpsychoactive products, which is why some CBD users were concerned that a blanket ban would take products off the shelves.

Paige Figi, the executive director of Coalition for Access Now, opposed the bill because of the effect it could have on CBD. The CBD product Charlotte’s Web was named after Figi’s daughter, and Figi used the CBD product to manage Charlotte’s epilepsy.

Figi said for families like hers, CBD access was a matter of life or death.

Senators voted unanimously for the bill, but the House was more split, with 14 Republicans voting against it — a notable schism for a Legislature where Republicans are normally largely allied by the time a final vote comes around.

Several Democrats who opposed the bill said that if it passed, it would only benefit large medical marijuana dispensaries, who could take the business from shuttered hemp shops.

In November, Florida voters will be able to decide if they want recreational marijuana legalized in the state. If the amendment passes, it will be the medical marijuana license holders that are able to sell to recreational buyers. DeSantis has expressed opposition to the marijuana amendment.

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