“She goes running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper, and it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day.” – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

I found an interesting article from a couple of years ago on Slate.com that discussed the growth in use of marijuana among empty-nest mothers.

The article’s author, who was 32 at the time, noted how several of his acquaintances had mothers who were experimenting with cannabis edible products – often just called edibles – that contain THC, the chemical that produces the high from marijuana use. Some would get high with their now-adult kids.

Similarly, a 2022 Gallup poll showed 7 percent of people aged 55 and up have tried edibles along with 16 percent of people aged 35-54 and 22 percent aged 18 to 34.

Theories for the growth of edibles consumption range from lingering effects of people dealing with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic to loose state laws concerning edibles to a spike in the retail availability of edibles.

The rise in sales of edibles – particularly in gummy or candy form – has caused the Alabama Legislature to attempt to wrap its collective mind around how to regulate the sale of these products made to alter your personal state of mind.

If you have walked into a gas station in Alabama and many other states, you likely have noticed these products, marketed as Delta THC or CBD, which is short for cannabidiol. If you are like me, you might have thought, “Is this place allowed to be selling this stuff?”

It is hard to give a straight answer to the question because the web of laws surrounding cannabis at the federal and state levels is more difficult to decipher than Chinese calculus.

Let’s try to speed run through the main issues. Marijuana and hemp are both varieties of the cannabis species of plants. The U.S. government defines marijuana as a cannabis commodity with more than 0.3 percent of THC. Any cannabis commodity with 0.3 percent or less of THC is considered hemp.

Marijuana is labelled as an illegal substance by the federal government. However, the federal government rarely prosecutes people for possessing marijuana.

Marijuana is also identified as an illegal substance by the state of Alabama. However, the Alabama Legislature passed a law in 2021 allowing people to obtain marijuana for medicinal purposes with a doctor’s prescription.

In spite of the 2021 law, the state commission in charge of launching and overseeing the medical marijuana program has run into a briar patch of problems in getting the program off the ground. This means, in effect, any type of marijuana possession is still illegal in Alabama for the foreseeable future.

Hemp was removed from the list of controlled substances in a bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in 2018, allowing hemp to be commercially grown based on regulations set by each state.

Hemp can be grown in Alabama, although, it requires a permit from the state government to do so, according to information from the Alabama Extension Service.

Is all that clear as mud? Great. Back to the question about the edibles products being sold.

To be legal these edibles are supposed to be derived from hemp with the lower levels of THC. Therefore, you should not be able to catch much of a buzz, if any at all, from them.

Yet, Alexander Willis, of the Alabama Daily News, reported on a state House committee hearing on the topic last week where a police officer with the Trussville Police Department addressed the potency issue with the committee.

The officer said his department’s narcotics officers bought 12 different edibles products from Trussville area stores and sent them to be tested. The results showed each product contained at least 1 percent and as much as 11 percent levels of THC, well above the approved 0.3 percent ceiling for hemp.

Currently, there is one bill in the Senate and one in the House to address the issue.

Both bills limit the sale of any cannabis products to people aged 21 and over, and both are generally in the same spirit of creating regulations for the sale of cannabis products through requiring businesses to obtain a license to sell the products and assigning a state agency to enforce regulations.

The two bills take different roads to reach similar destinations, so I would anticipate both chambers of the legislature will be able to iron out the differences in a compromise should both bills pass out of their chamber of origin.

Providing any kind of clarity and direction on cannabis laws is a goal worth undertaking.

Trying to interpret all of these cannabis laws stresses me out. Maybe I should try … nah, never mind.

Brandon Fincher is an academic journal editor and adjunct instructor of political science at Auburn University. He lives in Opelika with his wife, daughter and two Labrador retrievers. You can find his writing at brandonfincher.com.