Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 40 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE › Chapter 40-32 - HEMP GROWERS AND PROCESSORS › Subject 40-32-1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Rule 40-32-1-.02 - Definitions

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27, 2024
Words used in these Rules in the singular form will be deemed
				  to impart the plural, and vice versa, as the case may demand. For the purposes
				  of these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms will
				  be construed, respectively, to mean:
(1) "Acceptable hemp THC level" - when a
				laboratory tests a sample, it must report the total delta-9
				tetrahydrocannabinol content concentration level on a dry weight basis and the
				measurement of uncertainty. The acceptable hemp THC level is when the
				application of the measurement of uncertainty to the reported total delta-9
				tetrahydrocannabinol content concentration level on a dry weight basis produces
				a distribution or range that includes 0.3% or less. For example, if the
				reported total delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content concentration level on a
				dry weight basis is 0.35% and the measurement of uncertainty is +/- 0.06%, the
				measured total delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content concentration level on a
				dry weight basis for this sample ranges from 0.29% to 0.41%. Because 0.3% is
				within the distribution or range, the sample is within the acceptable hemp THC
				level for the purpose of compliance.
(2) "Agricultural Marketing Service" or "AMS"
				- the Agricultural Marketing Service of the United States Department of
				Agriculture.
(3) "Applicant" - a
				person or entity that submits an application for a Hemp Grower License or a
				Hemp Processor Permit. An application for an entity may be submitted by a
				person serving in an official capacity for the entity or by an agent who is
				authorized to sign for the entity.
(4) "Application" - the necessary and
				required written request which must be submitted to the Department by an
				applicant, as required by the Department, and which includes, but may not be
				limited to, all requirements of O.C.G.A. §§
									2-5-1 through
				2-5-4.1 as stated therein.
(5) "Cannabis" - A genus of flowering plants
				in the family Cannabaceae of which Cannabis sativa is a species, and Cannabis
				indica and Cannabis ruderalis are subspecies thereof. Cannabis refers to any
				form of the plant in which the total delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration
				on a dry weight basis has not yet been determined.
(6) "Commercial sale" - the sale of a product
				in the stream of commerce at retail, at wholesale, and online.
(7) "Commissioner" - the Georgia Commissioner
				of Agriculture.
(8) "Controlled
				Substances Act" or "CSA" - the federal Controlled Substances Act as codified in
				21 U.S.C.
				801 et seq.
(9) "Conviction" - a final judgment of
				conviction entered upon a verdict or finding of guilty of a crime or upon a
				plea of guilty.
(10) "Corrective
				Action Plan" - a plan established by the Department for a Licensee or Permittee
				to correct negligent violations of or non-compliance with the Georgia Hemp
				Farming Act or these Rules.
(11)
				"Covered growing facility" - a greenhouse, building or other structure
				identified by a licensee as a grow site and not used for residential
				purposes.
(12) "Culpable mental
				state greater than negligence" - to act intentionally, knowingly, willfully, or
				recklessly.
(13) "Cultivate" -
				means to plant, water, grow, and harvest a plant or crop for commercial
				use.
(14) "Decarboxylated" - the
				completion of the chemical reaction that converts THC-acid (THC-A) into
				delta-9-THC, the intoxicating component of cannabis. The decarboxylated value
				is also calculated using a molecular mass conversion ratio that sums delta-9
				THC and eighty-seven and seven tenths (87.7) percent of THC-acid ((delta-9 THC)
				+ (0.877 * THCA)).
(15)
				"Decarboxylation" - the removal or elimination of carboxyl group from a
				molecule or organic compound.
(16)
				"Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol" or "Delta-9 THC" - the primary psychoactive
				component of cannabis. For the purposes of this part, delta-9 THC and THC are
				interchangeable.
(17) "Department"
				- the Georgia Department of Agriculture, its agent(s), or its
				designee(s).
(18) "Dispose" or
				"Disposal" - an activity that transitions the non-compliant cannabis or
				cannabis product into a non-retrievable or non-ingestible form. Such activities
				include plowing, tilling, or disking plant material into the soil; mulching,
				composting, chopping, or bush mowing plant material into green manure; burning
				plant material; and burying plant material into the earth and covering with
				soil.
(19) "Drug Enforcement
				Administration" or "DEA" - the United States Drug Enforcement
				Administration.
(20) "Dry weight
				basis" - the ratio of the amount of moisture in a sample to the amount of dry
				solid in a sample. A basis for expressing the percentage of a chemical in a
				substance after removing the moisture from the substance. Percentage of THC on
				a dry weight basis means the percentage of THC, by weight, in a cannabis item
				(plant, extract, or other derivative), after excluding moisture from the
				item.
(21) "Entity" - a
				corporation, joint stock company, association, limited partnership, limited
				liability partnership, limited liability company, irrevocable trust, estate,
				charitable organization, or other similar organization, including any such
				organization participating in the hemp production as a partner in a general
				partnership, a participant in a joint venture, or a participant in a similar
				organization.
(22) "Farm Service
				Agency" or "FSA" - the Farm Service Agency of the United States Department of
				Agriculture.
(23) "Federal Criminal
				History Report" - the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Identity History
				Summary.
(24) "Federally defined
				THC level for hemp" - a delta-9-THC concentration of not more than 0.3 percent
				on a dry weight basis, or as defined in
				7 U.S.C. Section
				1639o, whichever is greater.
(25) "Gas chromatography" or "GC" - a type of
				chromatography in analytical chemistry used to separate, identify, and quantify
				each component in a mixture. GC relies on heat for separating and analyzing
				compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition.
(26) "Georgia Hemp Farming Act" - the Georgia
				law authorizing the Department to regulate hemp growers and processors, as
				provided in O.C.G.A. §
									2-23-1 et. seq.
(27) "Geospatial location" or "GPS
				coordinates" - a location designated through a global system of navigational
				satellites used to determine the precise ground position of a place or
				object.
(28) "Grow site" - a
				contiguous lot, parcel, or tract of land identified in an approved Hemp Grower
				License on which a Licensee cultivates or intends to cultivate hemp. A Grow
				Site may include fields or covered growing facilities, as well as land and
				buildings that are not used to cultivate hemp. Each lot, parcel, or tract of
				land separated by a barrier or buffer of at least twelve feet (12') in width
				will be considered a separate Grow Site.
(29) "Handle" - to possess, dry, or store
				hemp plants for any period of time on premises owned, operated, or controlled
				by a person licensed to cultivate or permitted to process hemp, or to possess
				or store hemp plants in a vehicle for any period of time other than during the
				actual transport of such plants from the premises of a person licensed to
				cultivate or permitted to process hemp or a college or university authorized to
				conduct research pursuant to Code Section
				2-23-4 to the premises of another
				licensed or permitted person or to a college or university authorized to
				conduct research pursuant to Code Section
				2-23-4; provided, however, that
				this term does not include possessing or storing finished hemp
				products.
(30) "Harvest" - means
				the process of cutting, collecting, or otherwise removing, by hand or
				machinery, all or part of a live hemp plant, including but not limited to
				cuttings, flowers, foliage, or seeds, from their habitat in a field or covered
				growing facility.
(31) "Hemp" - the
				Cannabis sativa L. plant and any part of such plant, including the seeds
				thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and
				salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with the federally defined THC level
				for hemp or a lower level.
(32)
				"Hemp Crop" - one (1) or more unprocessed hemp plant(s) or plant
				parts.
(33) "Hemp Grower License"
				or "Grower License" - a license issued by the Department under the authority of
				the Georgia Hemp Farming Act authorizing a person to handle and cultivate hemp
				in the State of Georgia
(34) "Hemp
				Processor Permit" or "Processor Permit" - a permit issued by the Department
				under the authority of the Georgia Hemp Farming Act authorizing a person to
				handle and process hemp in the State of Georgia.
(35) "Hemp Product" - all products with the
				federally defined THC level for hemp derived from, or made by, processing hemp
				plants or plant parts that are prepared in a form available for commercial
				sale, but not including food products infused with THC unless approved by the
				United States Food and Drug Administration.
(36) "Information sharing system" - the
				database that allows USDA to share information collected under State, Tribal,
				and USDA plans with Federal, State, Tribal, and local law
				enforcement.
(37) "Key participant"
				- a sole proprietor, a partner in partnership, a person with executive
				managerial control in any entity, or persons who have a direct financial
				interest in the entity producing hemp. A person with executive managerial
				control includes, but is not limited to, persons such as a chief executive
				officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. This definition
				does not include non-executive managers such as farm, field, or shift
				managers.
(38) "Law enforcement" or
				"Law enforcement agency"- any Federal, State, or local law enforcement
				agency.
(39) "Licensee" - an
				individual or business entity possessing a Hemp Grower License issued by the
				Department under the authority of the Georgia Hemp Farming Act to handle and
				cultivate hemp for commercial purposes in the State of Georgia.
(40) "Live Hemp Plant" - for purposes of
				these Rules, any whole or propagative part of the cannabis plant capable or
				intended for propagation or growth, including living cannabis flowers and
				plants, immature plants, and vegetative stage plants, but excluding cannabis
				seeds.
(41) "Lot" - a contiguous
				area in a field or covered growing facility containing the same variety or
				strain of cannabis throughout the area.
(42) "Measurement of Uncertainty" or "MU" -
				the parameter, associated with the result of a measurement, that characterizes
				the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the
				particular quantity subject to measurement.
(43) "Negligence" - failure to exercise the
				level of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in complying with
				the Georgia Hemp Farming Act and these Rules.
(44) "Permittee" - an individual or business
				entity possessing a Hemp Processor Permit issued by the Department under the
				authority of the Georgia Hemp Farming Act to handle and process hemp in the
				State of Georgia.
(45) "Person" - a
				natural person, corporation, foundation, organization, business trust, estate,
				limited liability company, licensed corporation, trust, partnership, limited
				liability partnership, association, or other form of legal business entity, as
				well as a state or local government entity.
(46) "Phytocannabinoid" - cannabinoid
				chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant, two of which are Delta-9
				tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9 THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).
(47) "Postdecarboxylation" - in the context
				of testing methodologies for THC concentration levels in hemp, means a value
				determined after the process of decarboxylation that determines the total
				potential delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol content derived from the sum of the THC
				and THCA content and reported on a dry weight basis. The postdecarboxylation
				value of THC can be calculated by using a chromatograph technique using heat,
				gas chromatography, through which THCA is converted from its acid form to its
				neutral form, THC. Thus, this test calculates the total potential THC in a
				given sample. The postdecarboxylation value of THC can also be calculated by
				using a liquid chromatograph technique, which keeps the THCA intact. This
				technique requires the use of the following conversion: [Total THC = (0.877 x
				THCA) + THC] which calculates the potential total THC in a given sample. See
				the definition for decarboxylation.
(48) "Process" or "processing" - converting
				an agricultural commodity, including hemp, into a legally marketable form. This
				definition does not include:
1. Merely placing
				raw or dried material into another container or packaging raw or dried material
				for resale; or
2. Traditional
				farming practices such as those commonly known as drying, shucking and bucking,
				storing, trimming, and curing.