A new state law targeting illicit cannabis took effect earlier this month, sparking backlash from some residents who say it has cut off access to therapeutic hemp they rely on.

A coalition of California families said Senate Bill 378 bans direct-to-consumer sales of full-spectrum hemp products in a virtual press conference Thursday. Speakers said they and other “vulnerable Californians” lost legal access to these products on July 1.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, who authored SB 378, disputed that claim. The San Francisco Democrat wrote in a statement that the bill only targets products that were already illegal and that the group is “completely mischaracterizing what SB 378 does.”

The conference, organized by the nonprofit advocacy group Coalition for Access Now, brought together families, researchers and cannabis advocates who described the law’s “unintended consequences.”

“Without immediate action, families across California stand to lose access to products they depend on,” said Coalition for Access Now Executive Director Paige Figi.

According to the bill text, SB 378 does not outright ban full-spectrum hemp. Instead, it places obligations on online marketplaces where illicit cannabis and hemp products are advertised or sold, including disclosures, reporting mechanisms and warnings. It also prohibits “unlawful paid online advertising” by unlicensed sellers.

A separate bill, though, imposes limits on the total amount of THC in hemp products. Assembly Bill 8, which took effect Jan. 1, bars hemp raw extract from ingestible products unless it is 99.7% pure, free of THC and free of synthetic cannabinoids. Full-spectrum hemp products usually fail to meet this standard.

Products that do not comply with AB 8 are sellable only through a licensed dispensary rather than general retail like grocery stores or gas stations. SB 378 closes off a workaround: selling direct-to-consumer online.

Attorney Jessica McElfresh, who has worked in cannabis law and policy since 2010, summarized SB 378 as “now having to ensure that if you’re selling hemp products (online), that they’re complying with AB 8.”

A statement from Coalition for Access Now wrote the legislation is “tantamount to a ban of full-spectrum hemp therapeutic product online sales,” claiming suppliers have ceased online sales in the state as a result. Figi added that dispensaries, which primarily focus on intoxicating cannabis products, often do not carry therapeutic hemp products families depend on.

Wiener rejected the coalition’s characterization of SB 378, suggesting it conflates the bill with AB 8.

“Intoxicating hemp is already illegal in California under CDPH regulations and AB 8,” he wrote in a statement. “SB 378 merely targets online listings for products that are already illegal because they are harming children in California.”

McElfresh also noted a mismatch between the bills’ intent and effects.

“I don’t think the intent of these bills was necessarily to deprive someone (of) getting access to CBD or other various cannabinoids,” she said. “I think that the core intent of these bills was more to address and adjust how we were regulating industrial hemp in California.”

Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who authored AB 8, did not respond to a request for comment.

The Coalition for Access Now sent an open letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this week containing a proposed emergency provision. It requested “immediate relief for Californians whose access to these products has been impacted by the recent changes to state law,” according to Sara Batchelder, a spokesperson who moderated the conference.

“The goal is simple: protect access to those who depend on these products while policymakers work towards a long term solution,” Batchelder said.

Supporters of SB 378 argue the measure is needed to protect children from unregulated cannabis products sold online.

In a June 2025 letter from the California Children’s Hospital Association, vice president Mira Morton wrote SB 378 will “help protect children and adolescents from exposure to illicit hemp and cannabis products sold online by strengthening consumer reporting and warning requirements.”

According to Morton, online platforms have made it easier for illicit cannabis operators to market and sell products outside the scope of state product safety regulations — especially to youth. SB 378, she wrote, is “urgently needed to close dangerous loopholes that put young people at risk.”

The Coalition for Access Now, meanwhile, said SB 378 endangers children instead of protecting them.

“This is not simply a regulatory issue. It’s a public health crisis in the making,” Figi read aloud from a summary of her open letter during the conference. She called full-spectrum hemp products not only “life-changing” but “life-saving” for some.

The cannabis advocate offered her daughter Charlotte’s story as an example: Diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, Charlotte suffered up to 300 seizures a week by age 3. Conventional treatments failed, so her family sought out a strain of medical cannabis high in CBD and low in THC.

“A miracle happened — the seizures that were seemingly never-ending … all but stopped,” Figi recalled. “For the first time I had the opportunity to meet my own daughter as she became a healthy, joyful little girl.”

The medical cannabis strain, renamed Charlotte’s Web in her honor, allowed Charlotte to live a relatively normal childhood before her death in 2020 due to a respiratory illness.

Families like hers, Figi continued, deserve continued access to full-spectrum hemp products. She said safeguarding access to these nonintoxicating cannabis products does not have to undermine the state’s goal to restrict intoxicating ones.

“California can protect consumers, uphold rigorous testing and labeling standards, prevent youth access and crack down on intoxicating products without cutting off access to non-intoxicating therapeutic hemp products,” she said.

Figi warned that the implications of SB 378 extend beyond state borders. California has long set the standard for public policy, she noted, and if access to full-spectrum hemp products is lost in California, it may become a blueprint for restrictions across the country.

Ryan Vandrey, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit who spoke during the conference, said his research suggests full-spectrum hemp products may be more effective for seizure disorders than CBD isolate because patients often require lower doses. Lower doses are generally preferable, as high doses of CBD can inhibit metabolism and harm the liver, he noted.

To his knowledge, Vandrey added, there is no evidence that adolescents abuse CBD oils. He explained that because the level of THC in these products is very low, they are not rewarding and reinforcing in the same way as other forms of cannabis. Full-spectrum hemp products will not “intoxicate or impair anybody,” he said.

McElfrech sees three possible remedies for families like Figi’s: find products that will meet some of their needs in the licensed cannabis retail chain, wait for a series of hemp products that complies with state rules or get the state to adjust the law in a way that grants easier access to the products they want.

Families expressed despair during the conference, however. Stephanie Bohn, whose daughter Sadie uses medical cannabis to treat her seizures, said she felt “terrified” of the future under SB 378.

“This is life or death for us.”

____

©2026 The Sacramento Bee. Visit at sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.