Cannabis manufacturer says that alcohol industry is behind the push for state laws regulating or banning hemp derived cannabis products

April 15, 2025 – MONTGOMERY, AL – The Alabama Gazette spoke with Jim Higdon, who is the owner/operator of Cornbread Hemp – a Kentucky based online make and marketeer of various hemp products.

Higdon has recently testified before different state legislatures – including Texas and Kentucky – about why cannabis products derived from hemp should not be banned or regulated more strictly than alcoholic beverages are.

"My father was a legislator in Kentucky, so I had a basic knowledge of the political process," Higdon said on why he has taken on such a prominent role in defending the hemp industry.

Higdon said that he is fighting a, "Massive multistate attack on the hemp industry from the alcohol industry."

First, a little bit of background - The Alabama Legislature is presently considering five or six bills that would regulate – to varying degrees - or even ban psychoactive cannabinoids derived from hemp. State Senator Dan Roberts (R-Mountain Brook) spoke with Brandon Moseley and Harry Still III on the Heart of Dixie Podcast about cannabis regulation recently.

Senator there are four or five different bills in the Alabama Senate, as well as a House bill by Rep. Andy Whitt (R-Harvest) that passed the House on Thursday, addressing psychoactive derivatives of hemp. These bills represent a range of approaches, from a total ban to making these substances legally equivalent to marijuana. Roberts and Senators Tim Melson (R-Florence), Shay Shelnutt (R-Trussville), and Rodger Smitherman (D-Birmingham) all have conflicting bills, though all would restrict sales to those 21 years old and up.

The driving force behind this legislative activity is the concern that the current availability of these products, often sold in gas stations, represents a loophole in federal law. These products typically start as hemp oil but are then synthesized into a synthetic form of THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis. This synthetic THC is then infused into various edibles like gummies, sprayed on snacks like Doritos, and added to beverages like slushies and hemp water.

Senator Roberts expressed his strong concern about these products, labeling them a "clear and present danger" to the state. Senator Roberts suggested that the use of these substances can lead to impairment and cited a tragic incident involving a Montgomery airport worker who reportedly had both Delta 8 and Delta 9 in her system when she was tragically killed by getting sucked up into a Boeing jet engine.

Roberts believes the Legislature is considering either stricter regulation or prohibition of these synthetic cannabinoid products in Alabama.

Roberts cited a significant increase in poison control calls related to these products for children aged 2 to 15 in 2024.

The Alabama Legislature is also considering controversial legislation sponsored by Senator Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) that would allow gas stations, convenience stores, and even grocery stores to sell what are called "cocktails in a can." These are mixed drinks with hard alcohol in them – hard liquor that historically has been limited to ABC Stores and other hard liquor stores.

"The two are definitely tied," Higdon told the Alabama Gazettes.

The same lobbyists from the alcohol industry that are pushing cocktail in a can legislation around the country are also pushing restrictions on cannabis infused drinks and other cannabis products.

"In Kentucky, the bourbon industry is very prominent," said Higdon. "I have a lot of acquaintances who work for the alcohol industry. Their whole focus was expanding RTDs - Ready To Drinks."

Then the same special interests, "Got real focused on hemp beverages to either destroy them outright or control their distribution."

Higdon said that the effort to ban or severely restrict cannabinoids derived from hemp began with Governor Gavin Newsome (D) in California. banned

"The hemp beverage focus started with Gavin Newsome in California," said Higdon. "It has been interesting to see Republican Legislators in Texas and other red states follow the lead of Gavin Newsome."

Higdon said that lobbyists for the hemp industry have not actively opposed the liquor industry's push for RTDs.

"The only people who are opposed to the RTD expansion are the liquor stores," said Higdon.

The Alabama Gazette asked Higdon if he supported limiting hemp derived psychoactive cannabinoids to people 21 and over.

"100% we sell to adults only," Higdon answered. "Most of our customers at Cornbread Hemp are women over 55."

"We completely support age checking," Higdon said and went on to describe the process by which his website checks to make sure buyers are in fact adults.

Higdon said that he and his company would fight any effort to lock out e-commerce hemp retailers from the Alabama or Texas markets.

"Our Texas customers are not criminals and neither do I, unless Texas makes me a criminal,"

Higdon said that if the Legislature bans cannabis sales altogether, "They are going to have a constituent problem. We have got very engaged customers who are going to be very engaged in the political process."

Rep. Whitt's bill limits the 5 milligrams (MG).

Higdon said that while he has some products with a higher THC level most of his company's cannabis infused drinks are already 5 mgs.

"The beverages we are rolling out are 5 milligrams," said Higdon.

He often ships a 30 day supply of the gummies.

Some of the proposed legislation limits sales of cannabis products to just vape shops and cannabis stores.

"If it is limited to in state stores sales only, there would likely be a federal court challenge," Higdon said. "It is firmly our view that state governments cannot interfere with interstate commerce. Preventing us as an industry from reaching interstate e-commerce customers won't happen without a fight."

Higdon acknowledged that "there is a study that is being cited by our opponents that showed 6000 cases of pediatric exposure of cannabis edibles. Of 7000 exposures only 150 of them were serious enough for the 1CU - 2% of those and zero of them resulted in a death."

Higdon suggested that children under six ingesting cannabis products is more a case of bad parenting.

A child shouldn't have access to the parents' "Liquor bottle either, but that legislator is not proposing banning liquor" because a child got into the parent's alcohol.

In the case of the tragically killed Montgomery airport worker Higdon said that that does not show that she was necessarily impaired.

"Cannabinoids are detectable in your system a month after exposure," said Higdon. She could have been "clean sober" at the time of her death and the autopsy would still have detected the cannabis use.

Higdon said that Cornbread Hemp does not sell Delta 8 at all. Their products are all Delta 9 and most are 5 mgs or less. They do have a 10 mg Delta 9 product that is all organic.

Higdon said that the legislature's efforts to ban or regulate hemp products is being funding by the alcohol industry that sees themselves losing markets share.

"Alcohol interests want to eliminate the hemp industry from competition," said Higdon. "Tennessee and Texas are bought and sold by the alcohol distribution industry."

The Smitherman and Whitt bills would ban on premises sales of cannabis infused drinks.

Higdon said that the ban on on-premises sales is because cannabis infused drinks are, "Cutting into their market share."

Whitt told the House committee that he found one store in Shelby County that was selling 25 mg gummies, which he said was the equivalent of a bottle of vodka.

Higdon said that is "Comparing apples to oranges, because the mechanism" of the high between alcohol and marijuana is so different. "A 25 mg is a strong gummy and that is not a strength that we make. That is probably going to be too much for a first time or occasional consumer."

"A 25 mg product probably should be limited to the medicinal cannabis market," said Higdon. "Though that same legislator is not trying to outlaw a bottle of vodka."

Higdon argued that cannabis products should be legal if, "Sold by a responsible retailer that knows how to check IDs or by an online retailer who checks IDs."

Alabama did not legalize recreational marijuana; but by the federal government legalizing hemp in the Farm Bill, the industry began marketing hemp – not as paper, cloth, rope, car panels, or any of the other myriad of legitimate things you can make out of hemp fiber – but rather as hemp flowers to make non-psychoactive CBD. Once manufacturers began producing CBD oil in quantity someone realized that they could also distill psychoactive Delta 8 from the hemp. It was not a big jump then to start lawfully manufacturing Delta 10, Delta 12, and even Delta 9 (all cannabinoids naturally occurring in hemp; much like its marijuana cousin though in smaller concentrations. The Alabama Gazette (and other sources) previously were reporting erroneously that Delta 9 – the very psychoactive component of marijuana – was still illegal. Not if it is derived from hemp, it's not.

We asked Higdon if this amounted to a back door legalization of cannabis.

"I understand that legislators in Alabama do not intend to legalize cannabis; but it showed up out of the blue through the federal farm bill." Higdon admitted.

Some industry advocates here in Alabama have warned that if the state bans cannabinoids derived from hemp, that will only give the drug dealers and the violent cartels another product to sell.

"That is 100% correct," Higdon said. "This is an opportunity to reduce the power of the cartels and drug dealers."