By Gary Vickers

After more than two decades serving the City of Newark, I understand what it means to protect a community — and what it costs when harmful products go unchecked. That experience is why I am urging New Jersey's Congressional delegation to defend the federal decision made last November to close the intoxicating hemp loophole, and to firmly reject the industry's push to reopen it.

Since 2018, intoxicating hemp-derived products — gummies, candies, drinks, and vape cartridges containing delta-8 THC — could be sold openly at gas stations and convenience stores across the country with no age restrictions, no safety testing, and no meaningful oversight. This came from language in the 2018 Farm Bill designed to increase hemp agriculture. What it inadvertently did was create a loophole for manufacturers to synthesize hemp-derived THC without any federal regulations. And these products bore no resemblance to what Congress intended to legalize. As a result, law enforcement across the state was left to contend with a market that operated entirely outside the rules that govern every other intoxicating product.

New Jersey has recognized the dangers of an unregulated intoxicating hemp market. Legislation passed in September 2024 immediately prohibited the sale of any hemp product containing a detectable amount of THC to anyone under 21 and moved these products into the state's regulated cannabis framework.

And still, as long as the loophole remains open, states that allow these unregulated products put our residents at risk. The dangers of this loophole are real and well-documented. Independent testing has found that many products contain synthetic cannabinoids with potency levels far exceeding anything found naturally, along with pesticides, mold, and industrial solvents. These are not the products their labels describe.

What concerned me most as a law enforcement officer was the direct targeting of young people. These products were packaged to mimic popular candy and snack brands — bright colors, cartoon fonts, familiar logos — and placed within arm's reach of children at the checkout counter. With no federal age restriction, there was nothing stopping a teenager from walking in and buying them. And worse, nothing stopping a child who might find this product and mistake it for a candy or snack. The FDA documented that 82% of unintentional delta-8 THC exposures reported to poison control centers affected pediatric patients. Children and teenagers nationally accounted for more than half of all reported exposure cases, with children under 12 making up 41% of those cases.

In January 2026, New Jersey passed additional legislation banning synthetic cannabinoids and aligning the state with the federal changes Congress adopted last November to close this loophole.

Now the intoxicating hemp industry is lobbying Congress to undo it. That would undercut everything New Jersey has put in place and return us to a market without accountability and no protection for children.

I spent my career working to keep Newark safe. I know firsthand that communities bear the consequences when dangerous products go unregulated. New Jersey's Congressional delegation must hold the line and keep the loophole closed.

Gary Vickers is a retired police Lieutenant/Commander, City of Newark, and former First Vice President of the Newark Superior Officers' Association.