In the final days of this year’s legislative session, a bill aimed at regulating hemp products fell short after lawmakers tried to insert language banning Delta-8 THC and similar products that are often used recreationally.

House Bill 458, sponsored by Ashburn Republican Rep. Clay Pirkle, aims to restrict sales of these products to anyone younger than 21 and set testing requirements to weed out contaminants. The proposal remains alive for 2024, the second year of a two-year legislative cycle.

Sarah Nicholls, founder of SJ Labs, an independent cannabis testing facility in Macon, said she supports these requirements because it’s impossible for a consumer to know what is in the Delta-8 selection in the average Georgia head shop or gas station.

“I don’t know whether it has heavy metals present, which is pretty common for vape carts, because they’re not getting a test,” she said. “I don’t know whether they have pesticides present or not because they’re not getting a test, and then people are inhaling them.”

Nicholls said vendors in other states send products that don’t meet their regulations to Georgia. In states with regulated recreational products, producers must meet safety guidelines and label their packages so people know what they are consuming and what kind of dose they should take.