The legislation that reopened the federal government in November didn’t fix the looming spike in health insurance, but it did sneak through a provision that will bring an end to what those in Alaska’s recreational marijuana industry have dubbed “Temu weed.”
The change closes a loophole in federal law that allowed hemp products — usually gummies and vapes — to contain an intoxicating amount of THC or similar compounds. The products operated across state lines and outside of the state-based recreational marijuana markets, undercutting local growers while creating a national $28 billion industry, and will be illegal starting Nov. 13, 2026.
Intoxicating hemp has long been a headache for Alaska’s recreational marijuana industry, which already faces higher operating costs than the Lower 48 and has a rigid, weight-based tax structure that businesses say makes it increasingly difficult to turn a profit. Alarms went off a few years ago when the gummies started popping up on gas station and headshop shelves, sidestepping the costs and regulatory barriers to the state’s recreational marijuana market.
“We didn’t realize it was such a big issue until it was,” Alaska Marijuana Industry Association member Brandon Emmett said back in 2023. “They’ve really started to erode the market share for edibles in the AMCO system. It comes to light that those products are not regulated, they’re not age-gated, and can technically be sold anywhere… We can’t compete with these products.”
Ultimately, the Division of Agriculture, which regulates the state’s hemp industry, stepped in to officially bar any Alaska-based companies from making intoxicating hemp products — including any lab techniques to convert parts of the plant into THC. The products have since largely disappeared from Alaska shelves, but can still be readily bought online.
From the Division of Agriculture’s perspective, spokesperson Lorraine Henry told The Current, “the federal law change will not impact Alaska’s Industrial Hemp Program for consumable products since the State of Alaska’s regulations are more restrictive. Alaska regulations already prohibit intoxicating hemp products containing delta-9 THC from being sold. The new federal legislation further restricts industrial hemp products containing intoxicating cannabinoids across all states.”
She noted that the law may affect seed and fiber selection in the hemp industry. While she didn’t comment on its impact on online sales, it will also turn off that flow.
Still, despite the state’s efforts to rein in intoxicating hemp, the hemp issue has continued to dog the state’s recreational marijuana system.
The latest point of contention comes in the form of CBD to THC conversions, a chemical process where hemp-derived CBD can be treated with heat, pressure and an acid to convert it into THC. The process is relatively new, and opinions about its safety are mixed, but the end result of undercutting local marijuana growers is the same.
Several members of Next Level Labs, a licensed operator in the state’s legal marijuana industry, have been up front about using the process to create THC from hemp-derived CBD to sell in the legal market. That, like the gummies, was met with alarm and outrage from the recreational industry, which blamed the company for seeking an unfair advantage by shortcutting an industry meant to be regulated from seed to sale.
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The Division of Agriculture this summer took action against Next Level Labs, ordering them to remove the products from shelves and halt any new conversions. The company has challenged the findings and fines, arguing that it shouldn’t be punished for finding a way to cut costs for itself and consumers.
At the December Marijuana Control Board meeting, recreational industry member Joe Stolz called on the state to take a firmer stand against the products, including a consumer-facing advisory that the THC in the products may not be from Alaska-grown weed.
“We’ve got products on our shelves that are basically Temu weed, imported, chemically converted with mystery ingredients and taxed less than a church bake sale. Consumers think they’re buying Alaska weed, but they’re actually buying THC created by a guy with the same vibe as some dude teaching a TikTok chemistry class,” he said. “The federal government shut down this loophole. Meanwhile, Alaska hasn’t put out a single advisory notice, even though they’ve known about this issue since February. Hemp is not weed, pretending it is doesn’t make you innovative, it makes you look like a snake oil salesman.”
Lacy Wilcox, a member of the Marijuana Control Board and owner of Tophat Concentrates, said at the hearing that she’s similarly frustrated by the state’s relative silence about the process. While she and other board members have expressed interest in issuing an advisory about the products, the state’s administrators and lawyers have been more reluctant.
Still, Wilcox’s message to the industry was clear that Alaska has already clamped down on intoxicating hemp, and just because the federal prohibition goes into effect a year from now, that doesn’t change anything for Alaska.
“That doesn’t mean Alaskans get to start doing this for one year,” she said. “It’s not legal. It continues to not be legal. You don’t have a ramp down. You don’t have a one-year sunset. That’s for places that haven’t banned it. We’ve already banned it.”