When Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced an emergency ban on hemp THC products last month, he said it was a response to a dire public health emergency and promised that the state government would act quickly to enforce his ban.

“We’ve had enough,” Newsom said during a press conference. “These emergency regulations will allow us to move forward to clamp down on that.” He was backed up by Mark Ghaly, then the secretary of California Health and Human Services, who promised, “We’re going to take it to the next level and make sure enforcement is out there.”

Newsom got his wish: Selling products made with hemp THC, an intoxicant found in cannabis, became immediately illegal across the state on Sept. 23. But despite his vow to immediately enforce the ban, his emergency action does not appear to be working.

SFGATE found that Bay Area convenience stores continue to sell hemp THC products, including Delta-8-THC vape cartridges, pre-rolled joints with THC and delta-9-THC edibles. SFGATE visited three tobacco stores last week — two in Daly City and one in San Francisco — and purchased hemp THC products at all three stores.

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Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Newsom, said in an email to SFGATE that state agencies are currently ramping up enforcement of the governor’s ban.

Numerous laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom take effect in California on July 1, 2024.

“Retailers who ignore the regulations and continue to offer hemp products containing THC are in violation of the law — and may face fines and penalties or disciplinary action, including suspension of their license,” Gallegos said.

Hemp is a booming category of cannabis products. Congress legalized hemp products nationwide in 2018 via a reclassification of cannabis, which allowed hemp products to be sold outside of the heavily regulated legal weed market. The hemp market is now home to everything from non-intoxicating CBD tinctures recommended by medical doctors to highly intoxicating hemp drugs produced synthetically in unregulated drug labs. They are sold online and at corner stores across the country, and face almost no federal regulations.

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California has been trying to regulate hemp for years, and Newsom’s September ban of hemp THC is the latest and most drastic action taken by the state. Whether it actually leads to a drastic change in the hemp market is a different question altogether.

Hemp THC products were widely sold at convenience stores and tobacco shops prior to Newsom’s ban, offering customers a way to buy intoxicating cannabis drugs without needing to find legal marijuana stores or pay cannabis taxes. In announcing the ban, Newsom called these sales “a disgrace and a shame” and said he was pursuing an emergency ban because the sales needed to be shut down immediately to protect........

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