As more suburbs move to ban or regulate psychoactive hemp products, Naperville will revisit its THC regulations to see how they measure up against other communities — and if more restrictive oversight is needed locally.
Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor at the Naperville City Council meeting Tuesday asked city staff to bring back a report on how other Illinois municipalities’ are regulating hemp sales and the efficacy of the city’s existing law. Currently, the city limits the sale and delivery of THC products to people age 21 or older.
Bruzan Taylor received unanimous support from the council for her request.
In raising the matter, Bruzan Taylor pointed to reports of other suburban communities cracking down on psychoactive hemp products.
“What I’m hoping to get is some information-gathering from our staff here,” she said. “I want to see if staff can look into what exactly these communities are passing. Is it something that’s similar to what we passed or is it more expansive?
“What public safety concerns are they seeing, causing them to pass such ordinances and are we seeing this in our community here? Or is our current ordinance working as intended?”
In June 2023, the council passed an ordinance making it unlawful for “any business to sell, offer for sale, give away or deliver a tetrahydrocannabinol product by any means” to anyone under the age of 21. It also prohibited those under 21 from purchasing, possessing or using a THC product.
The city “decided to take action to protect minors within the community by prohibiting these products from being sold because there weren’t really any regulations on them,” said Jennifer Bonner, senior assistant city attorney.
Though hemp and cannabis derive from the same plant, federal law passed in 2018 legalized hemp by defining it as having less than 0.3% by dry weight of delta-9 THC, the component that gets users high.
The legalization of hemp created a loophole for products manufactured from hemp-derived cannabinol, which resulted in the emergence of hemp-derived THC products at tobacco stores and gas stations, staff said in a 2023 report.
In passing local age restrictions over the products, the Naperville Police Department was tasked with enforcing the regulations. Police conduct compliance checks three times a year in accordance with state standards, which include checks for the sale of THC products — as well as tobacco and alternative nicotine products — to minors, Bonner said. To date, the checks have not found illegal sales of these products, she said.
Bruzan Taylor in an interview Friday emphasized that her request was born out of “no other intended goal than just to get information at this time.”
“Sometimes, when we pass these ordinances, it’s for us to do a check-in to see how they are working,” she said. “How are they doing? Are they doing their intended goal?”
If there are no problems, there’s no need to regulate further, Bruzan Taylor said.
Naperville’s review of existing regulations comes in the wake of the Elgin City Council this month tentatively approving an ordinance that would ban the advertisement, display, sale or delivery of any products containing delta-8 or delta-9 THC without a state license.
The Rolling Meadows City Council unanimously moved to ban the retail sale of products containing hemp-derived THC last October. The ban took effect this month. Other suburbs that have adopted similar restrictions over the past few years include Elk Grove, Orland Park, Waukegan, Lake Zurich and Highland Park.
Restrictions have also often included the ban of the herbal stimulant kratom. Extracted from the leaves of a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, kratom is often sold in gas stations or smoke shops and marketed as an aid for pain, anxiety and drug dependence.
The Drug Enforcement Administration considers kratom a “drug and chemical of concern,” but it is not a controlled substance. The U.S. Food and Drug Association hasn’t approved any drug products containing kratom or its main chemical components.
In Naperville, businesses are barred from selling or delivering kratom or a product containing kratom to anyone under 21. Those under 18 are prohibited from purchasing, possessing or using kratom. City officials placed restrictions on kratom in 2019.
The Chicago Tribune’s Robert McCoppin and The Associated Press contributed.